Reading an XML file

[yonidebest]

I looked all over the web for an easy way to read an XML file, with no success. Most places I found used the XmlTextReader.Read() method, which I don't find easy to use if I dont wanna go thru the whole file. This is what I am looking for. Say I have the following XML file: 10,000,000 1.2 7,000,000 2.4 and I would like to access Miami's population element (and get the 7,000,000 string) something like this (I have invent the names of the methods - the final question follows these exampls): string PopulationOfMiami = xmlfile["Miami"].population; or perhaps: string PopulationOfMiami = xmlfile["Miami"].population.value; or perhaps: string PopulationOfMiami = xmlfile["Miami"].ElementSon("population").value; or perhaps: string PopulationOfMiami = xmlfile.findNameAttribute("Miami").population.value; I want access to my XML file in a similar form in one of the above fashioned-way. Does anyone know of real methods and class that work like above? I hope I explained myself OK :doh:. Thanks, Yoni

[gnadeem]

you may consider using XPath. have a look at this. http://www.codeproject.com/soap/myXPath.asp[^]

[Kent Sharkey]

It looks like you should actually be using XmlDocument, rather than XmlTextReader. That will let you access your data similar to what you're looking for. XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.LoadXml(yourXML); String PopOfMiami = doc.SelectSingleNode("/cities/city[@name='Miami']/population").InnerText; Alternately, you can create an XML serializer, which would give you syntax closer to what you're looking for.

-------------- TTFN - Kent

[meeram395]

Hi, There is another way which you can read the values of XML file. Given below the code. 1. In the XML file, add the lines as below: CityNY name="New York" population=10,000,000 growth=1.2 CityMi name="Miami" population=7,000,000 growth=2.4 2. Open a new class called ReadXMLConfig 3. use the namespace, using System.Xml; 4. Declare the data members as follows : public class ReadXMLConfig { XMLDocument xmlDoc; private string NYName; private string NYpop; private string NYgrowth; private string MiName; private string Mipop; private string Migrowth; } 5. Type the following in the constructor area: xmlDoc=new XmlDocument // in the constructor NYName = null; NYpop = null; NYgrowth = null; MiName=null; Mipop=null; migrowth=null; 6. Create a function called LoadXML and type as follows: public void LoadXML() { xmlDoc.Load("XMLFilename"); XmlNodeList elemList; XmlElement elem; elemList = xmlDoc.GetElementsByTagName("CityNY"); elem = (XmlElement)elemList[0]; NYName = elem.GetAttribute("name"); NYpop = elem.GetAttribute("population"); NYgrowth = elem.GetAttribte("growth"); elemList = xmlDoc.GetElementsByTagName("CityMi"); elem = (XmlElement)elemList[0]; MiName = elem.GetAttribute("name"); Mipop = elem.GetAttribute("population"); Migrowth = elem.GetAttribte("growth"); } Call this load function wherever you want. Hope this will helps. Cheers -- modified at 4:24 Tuesday 12th December, 2006

Meeram395

[yonidebest]

Thanks - this looks like what I was looking for. Problem is that I have a problem: My XML is a file, not a string variable. i.e. this doesn't work: XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.LoadXml(@"c:\myfile.xml"); String PopOfMiami = doc.SelectSingleNode("/cities/city[@name='Miami']/population").InnerText; I looked around for a way around this, trying to give LoadXml a XmlReader and XmlTextReader, but nothing. How can I load my XML file and then do the select? Thanks, Yoni

[yonidebest]

Thanks, but I can't change the XML so easily - I found a VB code on the net that converts an excel file to an xml file. It isn't flexible. the city tags represent a row in an excel. can't rename them. Thanks anyway, I might use this in the future. Yoni

[Kent Sharkey]

If the XML is in a file use doc.Load(path) instead.

-------------- TTFN - Kent

[yonidebest]

Thanks. New problem :-) I get a "XmlException: '?' is an unexpected token. Expecting white space" exception. doh. Any ideas? Thanks again, Yoni

[Kent Sharkey]

What does your XML look like? -- modified at 14:52 Tuesday 12th December, 2006 As in, it's not just the six lines above, is it?

-------------- TTFN - Kent

[yonidebest]

No, it isn't just six lines. It's similar tho - many more cities and many more elements. Now that you mention it - it has a first line: Could it be this? -- modified at 21:29 Tuesday 12th December, 2006

[Kent Sharkey]

No, that's a fairly standard XML declaration. However, I'm guessing there's some high-ASCII character somewhere in that document, or something sitting in the wrong place. Does the error message come with a position (something along the lines of "The expected token is 'whitespace'. Line 1, position 40. )

-------------- TTFN - Kent

[yonidebest]

ahhh Thanks! Indeed - it did have a position - I looked it up in the XML and found a name with a quote in it :-) I'll escape it. Many thanks, Yoni