Using XML - Part 1

The best way to understand XML is to look at two different XML files. The first one is a simple one

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configure>
  <ljmu>
     <Introduction>20</Introduction>
     <Method>10</Method>
     <Results>20</Results>>
     <Discussion>40</Discussion>
     <Additional>10</Additional>
     <date>28-11-2007</date>
  </ljmu>
  <access>
     <Introduction>20</Introduction>
     <Method>10</Method>
     <Results>20</Results>
     <Discussion>40</Discussion>
     <Additional>10</Additional>
     <date>28-11-2007</date>   
  </access>
</configure>

It is simple enough to parse through a structure like this. ident is the node to be searched for and attr is the node. XmlReader.Create(conpath, settings, null) creates a reader stream.

public int dotheread(string ident, string attr)
{
   var settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
   var reader = XmlReader.Create(conpath, settings, null);
           
   int retval = -1;
     
   reader.MoveToAttribute(attr);
           
   while (reader.Read())
   {
      if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
      {
         if (reader.Name == ident)
         {   
                reader.Read();
            retval = Convert.ToInt32(reader.Value);
            break;
         }
      }
    }               
                       
    reader.Close();
           
    if (retval == -1)
    {
       DialogResult result;
       result = MessageBox.Show(this, "Unable to find the element",
                                "D'oh!", MessageBoxButtons.OK);
    }
           
    return retval;
}

Writing XML like this is also very simple

var xmlWriter =  new XmlTextWriter(conpath,null);
           
xmlWriter.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
xmlWriter.WriteStartDocument();
xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("configure");
   xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("ljmu");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Introduction","20");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Method","10");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Results","20");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Discussion","40");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Additional","10");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Date", dateToday);
   xmlWriter.WriteEndElement();
   xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("access");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Introduction","20");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Method","10");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Results","20");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Discussion","40");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Additional","10");
      xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Date", dateToday);
   xmlWriter.WriteEndElement();
xmlWriter.WriteEndElement();
xmlWriter.WriteEndDocument();
           
xmlWriter.Close();   

This is a very simple example, but it can be much more entertaining...