Walkthrough: Reading XML Data into a Dataset

From the File menu, create a new project.

Name the project ReadingXML.

Select Windows Application and click OK. For more information, see Creating Windows-Based Applications.

The ReadingXML project is created and added to Solution Explorer.

From the Project menu, choose Add New Item.

Select XML File, name the file authors.xml, and click Add.

The XML file loads into the designer and is ready for edit.

Paste the following code into the editor below the XML declaration:

<Authors_Table>
  <authors>
    <au_id>172-32-1176</au_id>
    <au_lname>White</au_lname>
    <au_fname>Johnson</au_fname>
    <phone>408 496-7223</phone>
    <address>10932 Bigge Rd.</address>
    <city>Menlo Park</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zip>94025</zip>
    <contract>true</contract>
  </authors>
  <authors>
    <au_id>213-46-8915</au_id>
    <au_lname>Green</au_lname>
    <au_fname>Margie</au_fname>
    <phone>415 986-7020</phone>
    <address>309 63rd St. #411</address>
    <city>Oakland</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zip>94618</zip>
    <contract>true</contract>
  </authors>
  <authors>
    <au_id>238-95-7766</au_id>
    <au_lname>Carson</au_lname>
    <au_fname>Cheryl</au_fname>
    <phone>415 548-7723</phone>
    <address>589 Darwin Ln.</address>
    <city>Berkeley</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zip>94705</zip>
    <contract>true</contract>
  </authors>
  <authors>
    <au_id>267-41-2394</au_id>
    <au_lname>Hunter</au_lname>
    <au_fname>Anne</au_fname>
    <phone>408 286-2428</phone>
    <address>22 Cleveland Av. #14</address>
    <city>San Jose</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zip>95128</zip>
    <contract>true</contract>
  </authors>
  <authors>
    <au_id>274-80-9391</au_id>
    <au_lname>Straight</au_lname>
    <au_fname>Dean</au_fname>
    <phone>415 834-2919</phone>
    <address>5420 College Av.</address>
    <city>Oakland</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zip>94609</zip>
    <contract>true</contract>
  </authors>
</Authors_Table>

From the File menu, point to Save authors.xml.

Open Form1 in design view.

From the Toolbox, drag the following controls onto the form:

• One DataGridView control

• One TextBox control

• Two Button controls

Set the following properties:

With the source file for Form1 selected in Solution Explorer, click the View Designer button in the Solution Explorer toolbar.

From the Data Tab, Toolbox, drag a DataSet onto Form1.

Select Untyped dataset on the Add Dataset Dialog Box, and then click OK.

DataSet1 is added to the component tray.

In the Properties window, set the Name and DataSetName properties to AuthorsDataSet.

In Solution Explorer, select Form1 and click the View Designer button on the Solution Explorer toolbar.

Double-click the Read XML button.

The Code Editor opens at the ReadXmlButton_Click event handler.

Type the following code into the ReadXmlButton_Click event handler:

private void ReadXmlButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string filePath = "Complete path where you saved the XML file";

    AuthorsDataSet.ReadXml(filePath);

    dataGridView1.DataSource = AuthorsDataSet;
    dataGridView1.DataMember = "authors";
}

In the ReadXMLButton_Click event handler code, change the filepath = entry to the correct path.

In Solution Explorer, select Form1 and click the View Designer button.

Double-click the Show Schema button.

The Code Editor opens at the ShowSchemaButton_Click event handler.

Type the following code into the ShowSchemaButton_Click event handler.

private void ShowSchemaButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    System.IO.StringWriter swXML = new System.IO.StringWriter();
    AuthorsDataSet.WriteXmlSchema(swXML);
    textBox1.Text = swXML.ToString();
}

Press F5 to run the application.

Click the Read XML button.

The DataGridView displays the contents of the XML file.

Click the Show Schema button.

The text box displays the XML Schema for the XML file.