Simple XML in .

NET
This presentation will introduction
XML and using XML in .NET by
simplest way
(C# and VB.NET)

Introduction
XML is Extensible Markup Language. It is include
tag defined by user and text inside the tag. The
tag begin with < and end with >, tag have three
type:
start-tags; for example:<section>
end-tags; for example:</section>
empty-element tags; for example:<line-break/>

The tag was defined by user with any name,

you can learn more on Internet.

Introduction
Because the tag can be defined by user
so it can be used as database, or setting
of program, etc,...
And this presentation will intro simplest
way to read/write on XML document.

File XML to example

In this presentation i will use this XML file to example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<family>
<name gender="Male" age="35">
<firstname>Tom</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</name>
<name gender="Female" age="25">
<firstname>Dale</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</name>
</family>

XML structure in .NET

Element
Node
Name
(color blue)

Attribute name
(color red)
Attribute value
(In double quote)

Inner text
Value

Read value in XML file

Read Firstname (you must add Listbox control to form)
Sub readValuexml ()
Dim xmldoc As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument
xmldoc.Load("example.xml")
Dim nodelist = xmldoc.SelectNodes("/family/name")
For Each i As XmlNode In nodelist
ListBox1.Items.Add(i("firstname").InnerText)
Next
End Sub

Anotherway
Imports System.Xml
Sub readValuexml ()
Dim xmltext As XmlTextReader = New XmlTextReader("example.xml")
Do While xmltext.Read
If xmltext.Name = "firstname" Then
ListBox1.Items.Add(xmltext.ReadElementString)
End If
Loop
End Sub

Read attribute value in XML

file
Read attribute Age, return 35 and 25
Sub readAttributeXML()
Dim xmldoc As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument
xmldoc.Load("example.xml")
Dim nodelist = xmldoc.SelectNodes("/family/name")
For Each i As XmlNode In nodelist
ListBox1.Items.Add(i.Attributes("age").Value)
Next
End Sub

Read data from XML file to

Dataset
You must add DataGridView to form. This
code will read data from XML file and show in
DataGridView
Imports System.Xml
Sub loadXMLtoDS()
Dim ds As New DataSet
ds.ReadXml("example.xml")
DataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables(0)
End Sub

Write XML file from Dataset

You can write XML file very easy . The first,
you get data from Database to Dataset, and
write it to XML file

Sub writeXML()
Dim conn As New SqlConnection("Data
Source=localhost;Database=NorthWind;Integrated Security=True")

Dim da As New SqlDataAdapter("select * from product", conn)

Dim ds As New DataSet
da.Fill(ds)
ds.WriteXml("product.xml")
End Sub

Write XML file using XmlTextWriter

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim writer As New XmlTextWriter("product.xml", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)
writer.WriteStartDocument(True)
writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
writer.Indentation = 2
writer.WriteStartElement("Table")
createNode(1, "Product 1", "1000", writer)
createNode(2, "Product 2", "2000", writer)
createNode(3, "Product 3", "3000", writer)
writer.WriteEndElement()
writer.WriteEndDocument()
writer.Close()
End Sub
Sub createNode(ByVal pID As String, ByVal pName As String, ByVal pPrice As String, ByVal writer As
XmlTextWriter)
writer.WriteStartElement("Product")
writer.WriteStartElement("Product_id")
writer.WriteString(pID)
writer.WriteEndElement() 'end Product_id
writer.WriteStartElement("Product_name")
writer.WriteString(pName)
writer.WriteEndElement() 'end Product_name
writer.WriteStartElement("Product_price")
writer.WriteString(pPrice)
writer.WriteEndElement() 'end Product_price
writer.WriteEndElement() 'end Product
End Sub

Search
This code will read data from XML file to DataSet, and using
Find() function of DataSet to find data.

Sub findInXML()
Dim ds As New DataSet
ds.ReadXml("example.xml")
Dim resultRow = ds.Tables(0).Select("firstname = 'Dale'")
If resultRow.Count = 0 Then
MsgBox("Could not be found")
Else
MsgBox("Found")
End If
End Sub

Reference
1.
2.
3.
4.

http://vb.net-informations.com/
www.codeproject.com
www.tutorialspoint.com
www.msdn.microsoft.com

About
Because this is the first presentation should not avoid errors. I
wellcome any contribute to this presentation more complete.
Any question or contribute please send for me via email
address: vohungvi@vohungvi.com or facebook:
fb.com/vohungvi