max size to store data in an xml file

mark dinesh

15y7.4k.NET

I'm using a file XML in my ASP.NET project to store information (entered by admin only). I would like to know the maximum size of an xml file is allowed in a project?. (size can be measured in number of lines, GB,etc.).
Also, My xml file must be updated programatically by adding new lines.

Also suggest me,
Actually, some data by admin would be updated and admin want to list of name and description of members of a company, so,members would be add, update or delete. Would this member information too store in XML? Would never issue of space came in future?
IS using of XML file good?

Note: as already told only admin would going to store information. i.e. user (client) would be only able to see the updates in website.

8 Replies

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Vulpes15y ago
Just as a matter of interest, there are a couple of techniques for dealing with very large XML files - namely indexing and splitting the file into smaller files - which are discussed in these two Code Project articles:

Article 1 (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/XML/LargeXMLIndexing.aspx)
Article 2 (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/XML/SplitLargeXMLintoSmallFil.aspx)

However, I still think that you're better using a relational database instead if you believe there's any chance of the XML file growing to this sort of size.
Suthish Nair15y ago
I suggest instead of using XML, go for single-user databases. The advantages here is you can have better security, performance, good back up policies.
Abhimanyu K Vatsa15y ago
Absolutely right Sam, the same issue (size of xml) i faced earlier. So, I'll suggest here to use either MySQL or SQL Server.
Sam Hobbs15y ago
A few months ago someone asked about reading a certain XML file that is available in the internet. It is a file of all books and articles and otehr material about computers. The file is very large. I forget now large; I might be able to find it but it is probably not necessary. The person had difficulty being able to read the file just because it was so much XML to process. So the limit is more of a practical limit than an absolute limit but I doubt that the file you will be creating will be anywhere near as large. If the size of the XML file becomes an issure, then it will be because it might take a lot of time to read and write it.
Abhimanyu K Vatsa15y ago
It depends on the system RAM size.

Approx:

For 120MB file size RAM needed 512MB (this is approximate value not fixed)

For more look at the IBM Library,
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.doc/doc/rsxlimit.htm
Vulpes15y ago
XML files are just text files and so the maximum file size will be that applicable to whatever version of Windows (and whichever file system) you're using - certainly many GB.

However, if you're trying to process a large XML file in memory in .NET, then - depending on what else you're doing - you may run out of memory attempting to load a file of no more than 500 MB.

Worse still, you'll probably have speed problems parsing much smaller files - perhaps no more than 20 MB.

So, if you're worried about this, then you should really be using a relational database rather than an XML file.
mark dinesh15y ago
May I know the max size of xml file in MB or GB .
MY Structure will be

< UserName>xxxxxx
******

both are encrypted
Abhimanyu K Vatsa15y ago
XML is used to transport the data which has some limitations like

(i) Character Length:2,147,483,647 characters
(ii) XML doesn't have support for casting to text.
(iii) ML datatype Can't be used in an index as a key column

There are many more.

No problem Mark, if admin is only one who play with your data. But for the future this will not be a good idea. Instead of this you may use MySQL or SQL Server.

Hope this helps.