vb.net and xml select node based on innertext of previous node - asp.net

Question

My XML comes in like this:
<Document type="ContentPage">
<Fields>
<Field name="FaqCategory" type="dropdown" title="Select Category:" index="FaqCategory" list="\Lists\FaqCategory" required="true">
Online Experience
</Field>
<Field name="FaqSubCategory" type="dropdown" title="Select Sub Category" list="\Lists\FaqSubCategory" required="true">
Using the site
</Field>
<Field name="FaqQuestion" type="text" title="Enter FAQ Question:" required="true">
How do I find articles on the site?
</Field>
<Field name="FaqAnswer" type="richtext" title="Enter FAQ Answer:" editorProfile="Advanced" required="true">
Answer to: How do I find articles on the site?
</Field>
</Fields>
<Placeholders />
<Indexes />
These are all in an array of XML objects, I need to sort through the array and set up (obviously) a FAQ section for this site. The problem I am having is that since this is not 1 xml document but a collection of xml documents, I am having a hard time sorting/separating by Main category > Sub category.
Here is where I am so far with the getting of the main categories:
Protected Sub getFaqData(ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)
Dim mainFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
Dim mainCategoryList As New List(Of String)
For Each Doc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
xml.LoadXml(Doc.Xml)
Try
mainFaqCategoryItem = CType(xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[#name='FaqCategory']").InnerText, String)
If Not mainCategoryList.Contains(mainFaqCategoryItem) Then
mainCategoryList.Add(mainFaqCategoryItem)
End If
Catch ex As Exception
Response.Write("ERROR getting the main category")
End Try
Next
For Each item In mainCategoryList
outputsubs(item, DocArray)
Next
End Sub
Here is the start of getting the sub categories and where I am stuck:
Protected Sub outputsubs(ByVal item As String, ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)
Dim subFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
Dim subcategoryList As New List(Of String)
'Add the main Category to the HTML output:
lblFaq.Text = lblFaq.Text & "<h1>" & item & "</h1>"
For Each Doc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
xml.LoadXml(Doc.Xml)
Try
'If xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[#name='FaqCategory']").InnerText = item Then
subFaqCategoryItem = CType(xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[#name='FaqCategory']").InnerText, String)
If Not subcategoryList.Contains(subFaqCategoryItem) Then
subcategoryList.Add(subFaqCategoryItem)
End If
'End If
Catch ex As Exception
Response.Write("ERROR getting the main category")
End Try
Next
For Each subItem In subcategoryList
lblFaq.Text += "<h2><a name=""subCategory"" style=""text-decoration:none;""><span class=""FAQPlusMinus""> + </span>" & subItem & "</a></h2>"
Next
End Sub
My thinking is that I will need to set up for-each loops nested to about 3 levels to get this to work, but I can't get my brain around it. Especially since it isn't a single XML document.
Which works to display the main categories

Answer 1

I found the solution with trial and error, not sure if anyone else will be dealing with a similar situation but here is how I got it to work:
Protected Sub outputFaqData(ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)
Dim mainFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
Dim mainCategoryList As New List(Of String)
Dim xmlDocText As New StringBuilder()
xmlDocText.Append("<Documents>")
For Each cmsDoc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
xmlDocText.Append(cmsDoc.Xml)
Next
xmlDocText.Append("</Documents>")
Dim doc As New XmlDocument()
doc.LoadXml(xmlDocText.ToString())
Dim nav As XPathNavigator = doc.CreateNavigator()
Dim exp As XPathExpression = nav.Compile("//Documents/Document/Fields")
exp.AddSort("Field[#name='FaqCategory']", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, "", XmlDataType.Text)
exp.AddSort("Field[#name='FaqSubCategory']", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, "", XmlDataType.Text)
Dim leftNavHTML As New StringBuilder()
Dim faqHTML As New StringBuilder()
Dim currentCategoryName As String = ""
Dim currentFaqSubCategory As String = ""
Dim isFirstPass As Boolean = True
For Each item As XPathNavigator In nav.Select(exp)
Dim FaqCategory As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[#name='FaqCategory']").InnerXml
Dim FaqSubCategory As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[#name='FaqSubCategory']").InnerXml
Dim FaqQuestion As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[#name='FaqQuestion']").InnerXml
Dim FaqAnswer As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[#name='FaqAnswer']").InnerXml
Dim isNewFaqCategory As Boolean = False
Dim isNewFaqSubCategory As Boolean = False
If Not currentCategoryName.Equals(FaqCategory) Then
isNewFaqCategory = True
End If
If Not currentFaqSubCategory.Equals(FaqSubCategory) Then
isNewFaqSubCategory = True
End If
If Not isFirstPass And (isNewFaqSubCategory Or isNewFaqCategory) Then
faqHTML.Append("</div>")
End If
If isNewFaqCategory Then
currentCategoryName = FaqCategory
If Not isFirstPass Then
faqHTML.Append("</div><div id=""alp_rightcolumn"">")
End If
leftNavHTML.Append("<h4 class='FaqCategory'>" & FaqCategory & "</h4>")
faqHTML.Append("<h1 class='FaqCategory'>" & FaqCategory & "</h1>")
End If
If Not isFirstPass And (isNewFaqSubCategory Or isNewFaqCategory) Then
faqHTML.Append("</div>")
End If
If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
faqHTML.Append("<div class='FaqSubCategoryDiv'>")
End If
Dim QAID As String = Guid.NewGuid().ToString
If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
currentFaqSubCategory = FaqSubCategory
leftNavHTML.Append("<div class='FaqSubCategory'><a href='#" & QAID & "'>" & FaqSubCategory & "</a></div>")
'faqHTML.Append("<br/>:FIN")
faqHTML.Append("<h2 class='FaqSubCategory'><a name='" & QAID & "'><span class='FAQPlusMinus'> + </span> " & FaqSubCategory & "</a></h2>")
End If
If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
faqHTML.Append("<div class='QuestionsBox'>")
End If
faqHTML.Append("<a class='FAQQuestion' href='#' onClick=""showAnswer('" & QAID & "');return false;"">" & FaqQuestion & "<img src='/images/FAQ_Arrow.gif'/> </a>")
faqHTML.Append("<div class='FAQAnswer " & QAID & "'>" & FaqAnswer & "</div>")
isFirstPass = False
Next
faqHTML.Append("</div>")
faqHTML.Append("</div>")
litFAQLeftColumn.Text = leftNavHTML.ToString
litFAQ.Text = faqHTML.ToString
End Sub