XML Reader in C#

Question

With my limited C# programming experience I have been researching how to read in an XML file for the past 4 days with no luck...I need help.

I know there is XMLReader, XDocument and something to do with LINQ that allows you to read in an XML file.

I only have experience of using streamreader so if all else fails I guess I will need to build my own XML reader using that.

In regards to the structure of my XML file it has a one tag that encompassess everything with a series of other tags that contain many child nodes.

Not sure what to do and running out of ideas.

Thanks

post your xml file content .. might be easy to crank out a sample code to read your xml content. — scartag, Apr 01 '13 at 00:09

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '13 at 00:12

1

The easiest way is to use XDocument. For example:

<myroot>
    <somesub>1</somesub>
    <somesub>2</somesub>
    <somesub>3 <b>- or -</b> 4</somesub>
</myroot>

And then:

string path = @"myfile.xml";
var doc = XDocument.Load(path);

// Get the root node <myroot>
var root = doc.Root;

// Loop through the children and print each one's value:
foreach(var child in root.Elements())
{
    Console.WriteLine(child.Value);
}

Look at the documentation of XElement and XDocument for more ideas and information about the members they have.

answered Apr 01 '13 at 00:12

Daniel A.A. Pelsmaeker

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What I am planning on doing though is to read the data in the xml, "1,2,3" (using the above example) and then putting those values into either a list, variable or an array. – user2230423 Apr 01 '13 at 00:15
Well, I've shown you how to read the values of elements. Now its your job to think of how the strings can be put in a list. That's a whole new question, and not hard to do. – Daniel A.A. Pelsmaeker Apr 01 '13 at 00:22
Apologies just played around for a bit I think I am on the right track now thank-you so much! – user2230423 Apr 01 '13 at 00:23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '13 at 01:01

You can use the XmlTextReader.

 using (XmlTextReader xmlTextReader = new XmlTextReader("FILE_NAME.xml"))
 {
    while (xmlTextReader.Read())
    {
        switch (xmlTextReader.NodeType)
        {
            // ... Process node types here ex. XmlNodeType.Element
        }
     }
 }

Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmltextreader.aspx

However XmlTextReader does not validate data, so if you want to validate your data use XmlReader: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmlreader.aspx

I forgot all about XmlTextReader:-) – Razor Apr 02 '13 at 23:49 — Razor, Apr 02 '13 at 23:49

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 29 '23 at 23:23

I recently wrote and published a library that allows querying and displaying nodes, child nodes, and list nodes within an XML file.

using DxF.XML.Finder;

using (MemoryStream xmlStream = new MemoryStream(File.ReadAllBytes("Sample.xml")))
{
    using (XmlReader xmlReader = new XmlReader(xmlStream))
    {
        // Get the total number of 'book' nodes
        int countBook = xmlReader.GetNodeCount("book");

        for (int i = 0; i < countBook; i++)
        {
            // Retrieve the value of specific nodes for each book
            string authorValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "author");
            string titleValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "title");
            string genreValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "genre");
            string priceValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "price");
            string publish_dateValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "publish_date");
            string descriptionValue = xmlReader.GetNode("book[" + i + "]", "description");

            // Print the book details
            Console.WriteLine("----Book " + i + "--------");
            Console.WriteLine("Author: " + authorValue);
            Console.WriteLine("Title: " + titleValue);
            Console.WriteLine("Genre: " + genreValue);
            Console.WriteLine("Price: " + priceValue);
            Console.WriteLine("Publish Date: " + publish_dateValue);
            Console.WriteLine("Description:");
            Console.WriteLine(descriptionValue);
        }
    }
}

https://github.com/ksomaz/DxF.XML

Razor · Answer 4 · 2013-04-02T23:50:58.180

All of these classes for reading and parsing XML serve different purposes.

Using XDocument (the LINQ flavour) will result in a significantly more readable piece of code but will consume more memory than XmlTextReader.

If you're processing large files use the XmlReader class.

XmlReader example on MSDN

XDocument examples on dotnetcurry

I have personally never liked the XmlDocument class because of the verbose code if forces me to write. That's just me.

harunu · Answer 5 · 2019-05-28T15:40:32.217

Here is a sample for your need. you can loop through the XML file with this easiest way.

XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
        xmldoc.Load("sample.xml");

        XmlNodeList name = xmldoc.GetElementsByTagName("name");
        XmlNodeList price = xmldoc.GetElementsByTagName("price");
        XmlNodeList description = xmldoc.GetElementsByTagName("description");
        XmlNodeList calories = xmldoc.GetElementsByTagName("calories");


        for (int i = 0; i < name.Count; i++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(name[i].InnerText);
            Console.WriteLine("Price: " + price[i].InnerText);
            Console.WriteLine(description[i].InnerText);
            Console.WriteLine("calories: " + calories[i].InnerText);
        }

        Console.ReadKey();

XML Reader in C#

5 Answers5