Read Data From XML in ASP.Net MVC 5

Cj Felix

12y343.6k31250Article

31 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Riti Tiwari9y ago
Why have you used class library?
FHI NB9311y ago
Hi, I would like to ask, how I can arrange data in the table. For example when someone on view ProductList/Index enters to the text field or chooses from data list "Generic mouse" and then table will contain only products with this product?s name. Thank you.
Trevor George11y ago
<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<ProductList>" %><h2>VoIP Subform 1</h2> <fieldset id="voipdetails" class="section2"> <table class="table table-bordered"> <tr> <th>Id</th> <th>Product Name</th> <th>Product Cost</th> </tr> <% foreach (var product in Model.Products) { %> <tr> <td> <%: product.ProductID%> </td> <td> <%= product.ProductName%> </td> <td> <%= product.ProductCost%> </td> </tr> <% } %> </table>
Trevor George11y ago
Hi I tried to copy the necessary code from this project into my project. The problkems is that my project is in aspx and not in razor. Everything is fine but when I put code in the view (I have a partial view), it does not work.
M D11y ago
Thanks for this. For all users - please note misspelling in RetrunListOfProducts()
- Cj Felix11y ago
  Sorry my bad :)
James Ryan11y ago
I can't seem to open the download as there is not a project file to open it with, could you please advise Cheers
Michael GRANDIERE11y ago
thanks bro
Gowtham Rajamanickam11y ago
amazing
Victor Garcia11y ago
Thanks a lot Christian !!... I was trying to solve this problem for three days... your article was very helpfull.
- Cj Felix11y ago
  Thanks a lot am happy to hear that
Sanket Shah11y ago
Thanks. It helped me a lot.
Biswajeet Moharana11y ago
thanks man very help full
Ramesh Maruthi12y ago
Good one Christian !!
Mahesh Chand12y ago
Well done Christian Felix
Nimit Joshi12y ago
Thanks for this wonderful article. This is the same what i want..
- Nimit Joshi12y ago
  Yeah..
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Really I am so happy to hear that, Did I helped you? thanks
Prasham Sabadra12y ago
Nice article ! Thanks!
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Thank you sir Prasham Sabadra :)
Dinesh Beniwal12y ago
Thats great
Dinesh Beniwal12y ago
Waiting for your more articles Christian Felix...Excited
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Ok sir, Most of the article that I will create will common and usable for others specially newbies.. #RockOn
Arvind Pradhan12y ago
Good & knowledgeable article ...............
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Thank you sir for the good comment #RockOn
Manish Tewatia12y ago
Nicely explained Christian...!
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Thank you sir that's our job to help others :) More Articles to share #RockOn
Praveen Kumar12y ago
Rock Star Christian Felix. Rock it with your contributions.
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Thank you Sir my pleasure #RockOn
Dinesh Beniwal12y ago
Great start Christian, Welcome to the C# Corner.
- Cj Felix12y ago
  Thank you :)

This article shows how to use XML in a project and also use the basic Class Library helper.

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2013 (download Express edition to: Visual Studio Express )
Bootstrap 3.0 (Download using Nuget Package inside the Visual Studio)
jQuery 2.1.1 (Download using Nuget Package inside the Visual Studio)
Entity Framework 6.1.1 (Download using Nuget Package inside the Visual Studio)

Let's get started

Assuming you have already installed the Visual Studio 2013, follow the following images and instructions showing how I use XML and build this sample program/demo. I created a project named DemoUsingXML and add XML file to App_Data.

Right-click the App_Data folder then select Add then New Item.

On the left panel of Add new item. Select Data then select XML. Name the XML file depending on your naming convention or object name.

In this demo I named it ProductsData.xml.

After naming the XML file click add. Then you will see the default XML file.

Now create the product object to the XML file. See the image below.

Script inside the ProductsData.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Products>
<Product>
<ProductId>1</ProductId>
<ProductName>Generic Mouse</ProductName>
<ProductCost>30.00</ProductCost>
</Product>
<Product>
<ProductId>2</ProductId>
<ProductName>Generic Keyboard</ProductName>
<ProductCost>20.00</ProductCost>
</Product>
<Product>
<ProductId>3</ProductId>
<ProductName>Generic Hard Drive</ProductName>
<ProductCost>100.00</ProductCost>
</Product>
</Products>

Using Class Library Helper

Now let's add our Class Library helper. See the instructions below.

Right-click the Solution in the project then click Add then choose New Project.

The Add New Project window will pop up. On the left panel of Add New Project Click C# then choose Windows Desktop. In the center of the Add New Project window choose Class Library.

See image below.

Rename the Class Library depending on your helper and so on. In this demo I named the library Demo.Helper. Now click Ok.

After clicking OK this will show in your project.

Now let's do the coding part to read the data inside our ProductsData.xml or XML File.

Right-click the Reference on Demo.Helper Class Library.

Choose Assemblies then framework look for System.Web then click OK.

I created an external model or properties; see image below.

Also add using System.Xml.Serialization;

To serialize the class to XML.

Code inside the product class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Xml.Serialization; //Add
namespace Demo.Helper.External.Models
{
/// <summary>
/// This class is being serialized to XML.
/// </summary>
[Serializable]
[XmlRoot("Products"), XmlType("Products")]
public class Products
{
public int ProductId { get; set; }
public string ProductName { get; set; }
public string ProductCost { get; set; }
}
}

On your our XMLReader Class that we created inside the Demo.Helper Library.

Add this on top of the code, see code below.

using System.Web;//Add References -> Choose assemblies

using System.Data;//Add

using Demo.Helper.External.Models; // This is the External Model that I created.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Web;//Add References -> Choose assemblies
using System.Data;//Add
using Demo.Helper.External.Models; // Add
namespace Demo.Helper
{
public class XMLReader
{
/// <summary>
/// Return list of products from XML.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>List of products</returns>
public List<Products> RetrunListOfProducts()
{
string xmlData = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/ProductsData.xml");//Path of the xml script
DataSet ds = new DataSet();//Using dataset to read xml file
ds.ReadXml(xmlData);
var products = new List<Products>();
products = (from rows in ds.Tables[0].AsEnumerable()
select new Products
{
ProductId = Convert.ToInt32(rows[0].ToString()), //Convert row to int
ProductName = rows[1].ToString(),
ProductCost = rows[2].ToString(),
}).ToList();
return products;
}
}
}

Now the Demo.Helper Library is done. Let us now use the library in our project and display the products that is the XML file or ProductsData.xml.

First create a controller. Right-click Controller folder inside the project.

Click Add then Controller.

To use the Library that we created, Right-click References then choose Solution then check Demo.Helper then click Ok.

After right-clicking the Controller folder choose Add then choose Controller then choose one of the controllers in this demo; I chose MVC 5 Controller Empty.

Click Add.

I named the controller ProductListController.cs, then Right-click the Index Code inline with the ActionResult then choose Add View; see the image below:

If you want to learn more about view, you may check this out. This link might help you: Adding a View.

Inside the view script add the ff. scripts and code.

Code inside the index.cshtml.

@{
ViewBag.Title = "Index";
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
@using Demo.Helper.External.Models;
@model IEnumerable<Demo.Helper.External.Models.Products>
<h2>Product List using XML</h2>
<table class="table table-bordered">
<tr>
<th>Id</th>
<th>Product Name</th>
<th>Product Cost</th>
</tr>
@foreach (var item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.ProductId)
</td>
<td>
@Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.ProductName)
</td>
<td>
[email protected](modelItem => item.ProductCost)
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>

Add this code inside the controller. In this project ProductListController.

Add the code inside the Index():

public class ProductListController : Controller
{
// GET: ProductList
public ActionResult Index()
{
XMLReader readXML = new XMLReader();
var data = readXML.RetrunListOfProducts();
return View(data.ToList());
}
}

Then rebuild the project. Hit Cntrl F5.

This will be shown after running the project.

The data from XML is finally displayed. I hope you have learned something.

More blogs to come.

Enjoy! Cheers.

Thank you God Bless...