XmlSiteMapProvider Class

The XmlSiteMapProvider class loads site map data from an XML file that follows a known schema. The site map data is bounded by <siteMap> tags and consists of nested <siteMapNode> tags. Two constraints are imposed by the SiteMapProvider and XmlSiteMapProvider classes on the structure of the site map data:

• Only one root node can exist.

• For SiteMapNode objects that specify URLs, the URLs must be unique within the scope of the provider. (For nodes that do not specify URLs, all keys must be unique.)

The following code example shows an example of an XML file that can be used with the XmlSiteMapProvider.

<siteMap>
  <siteMapNode title="RootNode" description="This is the root node of the site map. There can be only one root node." url="Page1.aspx" >
    <siteMapNode title="ChildofRootNode" description="Descriptions do not have to be unique." url="Page2.aspx">
      <siteMapNode title="ChildOfChildNode" description="SiteMapNode objects can be nested to any level." url="Page3.aspx"/>
    </siteMapNode>
    <siteMapNode title="ChildofRootNode" description="Descriptions do not have to be unique." url="Page4.aspx"/>
  </siteMapNode>
</siteMap>

The XmlSiteMapProvider is the default provider for ASP.NET and it reads XML data from a file named Web.sitemap that is located within the directory structure of the ASP.NET application. By default, the Web.sitemap file is located at the application root; however, if you want to change the name or location of the file from which the XmlSiteMapProvider loads data, you can override the default configuration in your Web.config file. By overriding the default configuration settings in your Web.config file, you can tailor the behavior of the XmlSiteMapProvider for each ASP.NET application, as necessary.

The following code example demonstrates an example Web.config file, where the XmlSiteMapProvider is still used, but a different site map file is used. Because all providers in a SiteMapProviderCollection object must be named uniquely, the one that is specified in the Web.config file uses a name other than the default but is also set as the default provider so that it will be used instead of the XmlSiteMapProvider that is specified in the default ASP.NET configuration.

Note
You can change the name of the site navigation data file, but you cannot change its extension. The XmlSiteMapProvider only reads data from files that are named with the file name extension .sitemap.

<siteMap defaultProvider="MyXmlSiteMapProvider" enabled="true">
  <providers>
    <add name="MyXmlSiteMapProvider"
      description="SiteMap provider that reads in .sitemap files."
      type="System.Web.XmlSiteMapProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.3600.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
      siteMapFile="CustomWeb.sitemap" />
  </providers>
</siteMap>

.NET Framework

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference

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