loading xml data into strings

I have an xml file with:

Code:

<UserAccounts>
<Account username="username">
<password="password"/>
<banned="no"/>
<ipbann="no"/>
<inactive="no"/>
</Account>
</UserAccounts>

I want to load each one of the elements into separate strings at runtime. I've been messing around with XMLTextReader for a few hours and am starting to wonder if thats what I use. To be honest I've never incorporated Xml into any programming projects at all so any help or ideas would definitely be appreciated thanks.

This can be done very easily using the System.Xml.Linq namespace.

Use XElement.

For example:

Code:

XElement root = XElement.Load("PathToFile");

Console.WriteLine(root.Descendants("password").Value);

Ok I'm testing this right now, I would I program a loop to check for all <Account username="
and load them into a textbox or listbox.

Your way never really worked, the .value didnt exist so I did it like this to load the data into a list.

Code:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
StreamReader stream = new StreamReader(XmlDoc);
doc.Load(stream);
foreach (XmlNode node in doc.DocumentElement.ChildNodes)
{
lstUsers.Items.Add(node.Attributes["username"].Value);
}
stream.Close();

That succesfully loads all usernames into the listbox. If you look above my xml file contains boolean values and password in each username tag. I have a textbox on the form that I want to load with the data so what I really want to do is load all the childnodes from the username attribute into a string array. Then when the user clicks on one of the username values in the listbox it will load the information into the textbox.

Also just a question I noticed that you can load the xml file into a string or a file stream, what is the difference?

Originally Posted by Mastermosley

Your way never really worked, the .value didnt exist so I did it like this to load the data into a list.

Code:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
StreamReader stream = new StreamReader(XmlDoc);
doc.Load(stream);
foreach (XmlNode node in doc.DocumentElement.ChildNodes)
{
lstUsers.Items.Add(node.Attributes["username"].Value);
}
stream.Close();

That succesfully loads all usernames into the listbox. If you look above my xml file contains boolean values and password in each username tag. I have a textbox on the form that I want to load with the data so what I really want to do is load all the childnodes from the username attribute into a string array. Then when the user clicks on one of the username values in the listbox it will load the information into the textbox.

Also just a question I noticed that you can load the xml file into a string or a file stream, what is the difference?

I'm sorry - I gave you incorrect information.

Since it's LINQ, it seems to return an IEnumerable collection of descendants matching "password" in the code supplied above. This code does what's intended:

Code:

XElement root = XElement.Load(@"PathHere");

            XElement passwordElement = root.Descendants("password").Single();

            Console.WriteLine(passwordElement.Name + " = " + passwordElement.Value);

You can also use the Elements member function to print all child elements that are direct children(So to speak), as opposed to children of children.

Here's an example of a function that prints all child elements in a tree structure recursively. The PrintTabs is merely for the aesthetics.

Code:

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            XElement root = XElement.Load(@"PathHere");

            PrintChildElements(root, 0);

            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        public static void PrintChildElements(XElement element, int tabCount)
        {
            foreach (var child in element.Elements())
            {
                PrintTabs(tabCount);
                Console.WriteLine(child.Name);
                if (child.HasElements)
                    PrintChildElements(child, tabCount + 1);

            }
        }

        public static void PrintTabs(int tabCount)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < tabCount; i++)
            {
                Console.Write("\t");
            }
        }
    }

I'm not sure I understood what you meant by your last question - care to elaborate further?

Well you can do this:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(PathToXML)

or I can

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
FileStream fs = new FileStream(PathToXML, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Write)
doc.Load(fs);

What would be the difference?

Also, I want to no the advantages and disadvantages of using: XmlDocument , XPathDocument, XmlReader and XmlWriter classes. My application is going to be using a few large xml databases and I want reading and writing to be fast. All I know about them is XmlDocument loads the entire xml file into memory while the others dont?

Originally Posted by Mastermosley

Well you can do this:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(PathToXML)

or I can

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
FileStream fs = new FileStream(PathToXML, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Write)
doc.Load(fs);

What would be the difference?

Also, I want to no the advantages and disadvantages of using: XmlDocument , XPathDocument, XmlReader and XmlWriter classes. My application is going to be using a few large xml databases and I want reading and writing to be fast. All I know about them is XmlDocument loads the entire xml file into memory while the others dont?

There is no real difference - it all depends on your program. It simply has many different constructors for the programmer's convenience, as he might have the path, or just a filestream in which the file is already opened.

I'm not sure about the performance of those classes - sounds like something you should ask google, as someone has probably asked this question before.