XMLAttribute

XmlAttribute is a class in the System.Xml namespace that represents an attribute node of an XML element when using the DOM-style API in .NET. It models an attribute as part of an element’s metadata rather than as a separate element in the document tree, and it inherits from XmlNode.

Key properties and behavior: XmlAttribute exposes metadata such as Name, LocalName, NamespaceURI, Prefix, and Value. It also has OwnerElement, which refers to the XmlElement that owns the attribute. The Value property gets or sets the attribute’s literal value. Attributes are not considered child nodes of an element in the same way as element children; instead, they are accessed via the element’s Attributes collection, which contains XmlAttribute objects.

Creation and manipulation: Attributes are typically created through an XmlDocument using CreateAttribute, then customized by setting its Value and attaching it to an element via Append or SetAttributeNode. In addition, higher-level methods on XmlElement, such as SetAttribute or SetAttributeNode, provide convenient ways to add and modify attributes.

Serialization behavior: The Specified property (where supported) indicates whether the attribute was explicitly specified in the source document. During serialization, attributes with Specified set to false may be omitted if they correspond to default values. This behavior helps control whether an attribute is emitted when saving the document.

Namespace and naming: XmlAttribute provides NamespaceURI, Prefix, LocalName, and Name to support qualified names and XML namespaces, enabling precise handling of attributes in documents that use namespaces.

Related concepts: XmlAttribute is part of the broader DOM model implemented by XmlNode, XmlElement, and other Xml* classes, and is commonly used alongside attributes today through the element’s Attributes collection.