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PLEASE HELP ME -- how to get data from a xml file using C#?

Hi, all,
i have a xml file like:
- <FORM name="Work Order">
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="1000" windowtext="17089" order="0" key="15747">17089</CONTROL>
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="1018" windowtext="TM1504" order="4" key="1064">TM1504</CONTROL>
+ <CONTROL type="tabpane" id="106" windowtext="" order="6">
- <TAB name="Contractor">
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="1211" windowtext="" order="2" />
</TAB>
- <TAB name="Costs">
- <CONTROL type="tabpane" id="801" windowtext="" order="67">
- <TAB name="Labour">
- <CONTROL type="grid" id="1300" windowtext="" order="9" rows="1" cols="35">
- <ROW order="1">
<COL name="Activity" order="1">TM1504</COL>
<COL name="ACTDESC" order="2">P MACH - BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE</COL>
<COL name="Task" order="3" />
<COL name="TASKKEY" order="4">1</COL>
<COL name="" order="5">15747</COL>
<COL name="Charge Date" order="6">12/08/1997</COL>
<COL name="" order="7">10:44</COL>
<COL name="Crew Type" order="8" />
<COL name="Job Class" order="9" />
<COL name="Employee ID" order="10">100236</COL>
</ROW>
</CONTROL>
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="4216" windowtext="22.55" order="14">22.55</CONTROL>
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="1316" windowtext="22.55" order="15">22.55</CONTROL>
</TAB>
- <TAB name="Extra Item">
<CONTROL type="grid" id="1470" windowtext="" order="44" rows="0" cols="19" />
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="4216" windowtext="0.00" order="49">0.00</CONTROL>
<CONTROL type="edittext" id="1479" windowtext="0.00" order="50">0.00</CONTROL>
</TAB>
</CONTROL>
</TAB>
</FORM>

this xml file is very complex.
I have to explain the structure : form "work order" has a few tabs, each tab may have a few subtabs, each tab may have a data grid ( like a table), each data grid has many rows, each row has many columns.

i have to read data from this xml file, for example, get "Employee ID" from this path :
tab name = "Cost" > subtab name = "Labour" > control type = "grid" > Row order = 1 > COL name = 'Employee ID"

how can i get ALL 'employee id' IN A DATA GRID by using C# ? USING XPathNavigator,XmlTextReader or something else? could you please give me some example code? i really have no idea for how to do it.

many thanks
viola

tovvenki

Hi,
can you try this
Dim myDataSet as New DataSet()

myDataSet.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("your xmlfile.xml"))

dgBooks.DataSource = myDataSet
dgBooks.DataBind()

Hope that this helps you.

Regards,
venki

Vaishali_chaudhry

try using a XMLReader ,if you actually want to go through each tab and check its significance...A sample code that i am using..

private void readCoumns(string TableName)
            {
                  bool foundTable=false;
                  String str;
                  rdr=new XmlTextReader(@"c:\multij\Employ4.xml");
                  while (rdr.Read() && !foundTable)
                  {
                        switch (rdr.NodeType)
                        {
                              case XmlNodeType.Element:
                                    str=rdr.Name;
                                          if(str.Equals("Table"))
                                    {
                                          rdr.MoveToNextAttribute();
                                          if(rdr.Value.Equals(TableName))
                                          {
                                                foundTable=true;
                                                int i=0;
                                                ctxMenuDetail.MenuItems.Clear();
                                                while(rdr.Read())
                                                {
                                                      if(rdr.Name.Equals("Column"))
                                                      {
                                                            rdr.MoveToNextAttribute();
                                                            ctxMenuDetail.MenuItems.Add(rdr.Value);
                                                            ctxMenuDetail.MenuItems[i++].Click+=new System.EventHandler(this.DetailMenuItemHandler);
                                                      }
                                                      if(rdr.Name.Equals("PrimaryKey"))
                                                      {
                                                            break;
                                                      }
                                                }
                                          }
                                    }
                                    break;
                        }
                  }
                  rdr.Close();
            }

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Thalox

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viola123

ASKER

hi, Thalox,
i figured out this problem. code is the following:

---select only one 'employee ID'
string nd = "" ;
XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
xmldoc.Load(strXMLFile);

// because type, name, order ... they all attributes of that node, so must use '@' to specify those attributes
XmlNode node = xmldoc.DocumentElement.SelectSingleNode("CONTROL[@type='tabpane']/TAB[@name='Costs']/CONTROL[@type='tabpane']/TAB[@name='Labour']/CONTROL[@type='grid']/ROW[@order='1']/COL[@name='Employee ID']");

//if you want to get value, please use 'InnerText' NOT 'Value'
nd = node.InnerText;

---select all 'employee ID'
XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
xmldoc.Load(strXMLFile);

XmlNodeList nodes = xmldoc.DocumentElement.SelectNodes("//COL[@name='Employee ID']");
string[] src = new string[nodes.Count];

for (int i = 0; i < src.Length; i++)
{
src[i] = nodes[i].InnerText;
}

anyway, you gave me the whole idea. thank you very much.

BTW, tovvenki and vaishali chaudhry, thanks for your help.
viola