How to read into an XElement a continuous stream of XML over HTTP

Question

I am receiving 'chunks' of xml over an http response stream. Each chunk is a complete mini xml hierarchy, such as:

<chunk1>
  <id>1</id>
  <data>blah blah-blah</data>
</chunk1>
...
(30 seconds later)
...
<chunk2>
  <id>2</id>
  <data>blah blah-blah</data>
</chunk2>
...
(30 seconds later)
...
<chunk1>
  <id>3</id>
  <data>blah blah-blah</data>
</chunk1>

What is the best way in c# to read each 'chunk' into an XElement for further processing? Each chunk may have a different root element.

I have seen responses to similar questions. However, the responses did not seem optimal, as they involved processing each node. I just want to read the stream until I reach the closing node corresponding to the opening chunk node, feed the whole chunk into an XElement, call a method to process it, and then wait for the next chunk.

Reading the chunks into a `StringBuilder` or some list wouldn't suffice? — Mrchief, Sep 02 '14 at 19:42
I would need to know when to stop reading (i.e., when the closing root element had been reached)? — Jimmy, Sep 02 '14 at 19:57
Ohh, I see now. So its possible that a response chunk may contain partial chunk for next or previous chunks? If not (i.e. the chunk is always a single node), then things are bit easier. — Mrchief, Sep 02 '14 at 20:01
IOW, are you expecting "..." in each chunk or can they be "rootX>..." or "... — Mrchief, Sep 02 '14 at 20:05

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '14 at 17:45

This does what I was looking for:

XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(stream, new XmlReaderSettings() { ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Fragment });

while (reader.Read())
{
  using (XmlReader subTreeReader = reader.ReadSubtree())
  {
    XElement xmlData = XElement.Load(subTreeReader);
    Process(xmlData);
  }
}

How to read into an XElement a continuous stream of XML over HTTP

1 Answers1