Different Ways Of Reading XML Files In ASP.NET C#

Introduction

In this article, we will see most simple and fast ways to read XML files. I hope the code will be helpful for the developers, especially, who are going to work for the first time in XML in C#. Here, I have tried my best to put the different ways to read XML files in one place. Hope it will be helpful for the newcomers to get the overall picture and start.

Sample XML file used in this article is given below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Tenders>
<Ravina>
<BillNo>1</BillNo>
<PageNo>10</PageNo>
<Activity>Metals</Activity>
</Ravina>
<Ravina>
<BillNo>2</BillNo>
<PageNo>20</PageNo>
<Activity>Formworks</Activity>
</Ravina>
< Ravina>
<BillNo>3</BillNo>
<PageNo>30</PageNo>
<Activity>SiteWorks</Activity>
</ Ravina>
</Tenders>

Way 1 : Using XMLTextReader Class and Dataset

Official documentation : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmltextreader(v=vs.110).aspx

Simple example is given below:

ASPX page code

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server"></asp:GridView>
<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList1BillNo" runat="server"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList2PageNo" runat="server"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList3Activity" runat="server"></asp:DropDownList>

C# code

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
BindDataToGridview();
}
}
// This method is used to bind data to dropdownlist and gridview
protected void BindDataToGridview()
{
//open the tender xml file
XmlTextReader xmlreader = new XmlTextReader(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/TernTenders.xml"));
//reading the xml data
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.ReadXml(xmlreader);
xmlreader.Close();
//if ds is not empty
if (ds.Tables.Count != 0)
{
//Bind Data to gridview
GridView1.DataSource = ds;
GridView1.DataBind();
// Bind Data to dropdownlist
DropDownList1BillNo.DataSource = ds;
DropDownList1BillNo.DataTextField = "BillNo";
DropDownList1BillNo.DataValueField = "BillNo";
DropDownList1BillNo.DataBind();
DropDownList2PageNo.DataSource = ds;
DropDownList2PageNo.DataTextField = "PageNo";
DropDownList2PageNo.DataValueField = "PageNo";
DropDownList2PageNo.DataBind();
DropDownList3Activity.DataSource = ds;
DropDownList3Activity.DataTextField = "Activity";
DropDownList3Activity.DataValueField = "Activity";
DropDownList3Activity.DataBind();
}
}

Note: In the code, mentioned above, for the dataset, we can also just pass the string filename alone, given below:

for ex,

string filePath = Server.MapPath ( "~/App_Data/TpmsReference.xml" );
ds.ReadXml ( filePath );

Output

Output

Way 2 : Using XML Reader Class

Official documentation.

Simple Example

ASPX page code

<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="ReadXMLDataUsingXMLReader" OnClick="Button1_Click" />
<asp:ListBox ID="ListBox1" runat="server" Height="500px" Width="500px"></asp:ListBox>

C# code

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
XmlReader xReader = XmlReader.Create(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/TernTenders.xml"));
while (xReader.Read())
{
switch (xReader.NodeType)
{
case XmlNodeType.Element:
ListBox1.Items.Add("<" + xReader.Name + ">");
break;
case XmlNodeType.Text:
ListBox1.Items.Add(xReader.Value);
break;
case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
ListBox1.Items.Add("</" + xReader.Name + ">");
break;
} // end of switch
} //end of while
} //end of button click event

If you want to pass the same XML data as a string, the code, given below, will work:

code

Output

Output

Way 3 : Using XMLDocument Class

Official Documentation

Simple Example

ASPX page code

<asp:Button ID="ReadXmlUsingXMLDocument" runat="server" Text="ReadXMLDataUsingXMLDocument" OnClick="ReadXmlUsingXMLDocument_Click" />
<asp:ListBox ID="ListBox2" runat="server" Height="500px" Width="500px"></asp:ListBox>

C# code

protected void ReadXmlUsingXMLDocument_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Create the XmlDocument.
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/TernTenders.xml"));
//Display all the Activities alone in the XML
XmlNodeList elemList = doc.GetElementsByTagName("Activity");
for (int i = 0; i < elemList.Count; i++)
{
ListBox2.Items.Add(elemList[i].InnerXml);
}
}

Output

Output

Way 4 :Simple way of Using XMLDatasource Control

Official Documentation.

Simple example

XML data

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<tpms>
<currencies>
<currency Name="Indian Rupee" code="INR" />
<currency Name="United Arab Emirates" code="AED" />
<currency Name="Omani Rial" code="OMR" /> </currencies>
</tpms>

ASPX code

<asp:DropDownList ID="DD_CurrencyCode" runat="server" DataSourceID="tpmsreference" DataTextField="code" DataValueField="code"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:XmlDataSource ID="tpmsreference" runat="server" DataFile="~/App_Data/TpmsReference.xml" XPath="/tpms/currencies/currency"></asp:XmlDataSource>

Note : In the code mentioned above, two important properties should be understood clearly .This is DataFile property, which is used to load XML data from the specified XML file. XPath Property is used to apply a filter expression to the data, which had been loaded.

Output
Output

I hope the information, given above, was useful. Kindly let me know your thoughts or feedback.

8 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Partha Maity8y ago
Thanks a lot, it's working for me
- Karthik Elumalai8y ago
  My pleasure and Happy that it helped..:)
Karthik Elumalai10y ago
My PleasureRavi Kandel.Thank you very much for you valuable feedback.
Ravi Kandel10y ago
Thanks
Karthik Elumalai10y ago
Thank you very much Vignesh Mani
Vignesh Mani10y ago
NIce
Karthik Elumalai10y ago
ThanksManas Mohapatra.
Manas Mohapatra10y ago
Good to know multiple ways to read xml data from files..