Question

Adding to Menuitem from XML contents

Asked by: nonesuch

Platform is .NET 2.0 VB. I have an application using the menu control for a navigation system. I have an XML file that represents several different attributes about reports. I want to append menu items to this existing menu by reading through that XML file.

Current menu control code:
<asp:Menu id="myMenu">
<items>
<asp:MenuItem Text="Menu 1">
   <asp:MenuItem Text="Menu 1 option 1" />
</asp:MenuItem>
<asp:MenuItem Text="Menu 2">
   <asp:MenuItem Text = "Menu 2 option 1" />
   <asp:MenuItem Text = "Menu 2 option 2" />
</asp:MenuItem>
</Items>
</asp:Menu>

My XML file looks like this:
<reports>
  <report id="1">
      <id>1</id>
      <rname>Report Name 1</rname>
      <rurl>Report URL</rurl>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
   </report>
  <report id="2">
      <id>2</id>
      <rname>Report Name 2</rname>
      <rurl>Report URL</rurl>
      <enabled>false</enabled>
   </report>
  <report id="3">
      <id>3</id>
      <rname>Report Name 3</rname>
      <rurl>Report URL</rurl>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
   </report>
</reports>

There are other elements in the XML file which I am using elsewhere -- when a report is selected by its "id" number, it determines which elements on the filter screen are visible, etc. This is working great.

What I want to do is, in the PageLoad event of the menu custom control codebehind, read in the XML file, and if the report is enabled, add it (in id order) to the second submenu, like:

myMenu.Items(1).ChildItems.Add(New MenuItem(xmlRow.Item("rname", xmlRow.Item("rurl"))

But I can't seem to understand how to iterate through the list of matching list items in the XML file (the 'enabled' ones) and then break out the various element values to manipulate them in this fashion. What am I missing? Need guidance on how to read in the contents of the XML file, and how to access the various elements to build the menu items.




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Asked On
2007-07-24 at 12:29:35ID22718032
Topics

Programming for ASP.NET

,

.NET Framework 2.x

,

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Participating Experts
1
Points
0
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: vardiumPosted on 2007-07-25 at 02:36:26ID: 19563881

You can use XML Query like :
Dim doc as XmlDocument = new XmlDocument()
doc.Load("YOURXML.xml")
Dim root as XmlNode = doc.DocumentElement
Dim nodeList as XmlNodeList = root.SelectNodes("report[enabled='true']")

Now nodeList contains only enabled report nodes, you can use them with foreach as you want.

 

by: nonesuchPosted on 2007-07-25 at 14:50:28ID: 19570136

Okay, what I'm asking is how do I iterate through that nodelist that is created.

 

by: nonesuchPosted on 2007-07-25 at 15:14:59ID: 19570291

I've attempted to use the SelectNodes as displayed, and either I'm not actually getting anything back (which should not be true as I know I have items that are enabled) or I'm confused as to how to iterate across them, because I get nothing returned.

I'm offering 500 points for what should be fairly simple for someone who works with XML, so please take the time to write out how this works.

 

by: vardiumPosted on 2007-07-26 at 00:28:35ID: 19572446

if I am not misunderstanding, this will help :

For Each node As XmlNode In nodeList
  myMenu.Items(1).ChildItems.Add(New MenuItem(node.Item("rname", node.Item("rurl"))
Next

 

by: nonesuchPosted on 2007-07-26 at 06:31:06ID: 19574208

I know I have matching items in the xml file. But I'm getting nothing. I've put stuff within the for each loop and I can tell that I'm not even getting into the loop.

I went a different route by reading the XML set into a DataView and that's working for me now. Thanks anyway but I have resolved my problem.

 

by: vardiumPosted on 2007-07-26 at 07:09:53ID: 19574579

xxxx.SelectNodes("//report[enabled='true']")

 

by: nonesuchPosted on 2007-07-26 at 09:30:08ID: 19576009

Thanks, I've already worked out my own solution as I said by using the DataView.

 

by: nonesuchPosted on 2007-09-16 at 06:09:10ID: 19900403

My solution:

        Dim dvReport As New DataView
        Dim rid As Integer
        dvReport = CType(XMLFile.GetReportList(), DataView)

...

    Public Function GetReportList() As System.Object
        If HttpContext.Current.Cache("ReportList") Is Nothing Then
            Dim xmlReportList As New DataSet
            xmlReportList.ReadXml(xmlPath & xmlReportFile)

            Dim xmlView As DataView
            xmlView = xmlReportList.Tables(0).DefaultView

            HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("ReportList", xmlView, New Caching.CacheDependency(xmlPath & xmlReportFile))

        End If

        Return HttpContext.Current.Cache("ReportList")

    End Function

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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