CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netxmlsave
Canin
Canin

Reputation: 129

Using XmlDocument.Save() Effectively

I'm working with a .XML document in C# to which I'm selecting nodes from, adding nodes to, and deleting nodes many, many times over a span of my code.

All of the XML editing of this document is contained within a class, which other classes call to.

Since the Data Access class has no way of telling if the classes using it are done with editing the document, it has no logic as to if/when to save.

I could save after every modification of the document, but I'm concerned with performance issues.

Alternatively I could just assume/hope that it will be saved by the other classes that use it (I created a one-line public method to save the document, so another class can request a save).

The second option concerns me as I feel like I should have it globally enforced in some manner to avoid it being called upon and modifications not being committed. To this point there will never be a case where a rollback is needed; any change is a change that should be committed.

Does .Net (Or coding design) have a way to balance performance and safety in such a situation?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 602

Answers (2)

Trisped
Trisped

Reputation: 6003

If you always want to save the changes (just don't know when) then you could add the save command to the class destructor. This way you know the changes will always be saved.

If you need additional help or want an example please leave a comment, otherwise select an answer as correct.

Update: It has been brought to my attention that the class destructor may fire after other objects (like a FileStream) have already been disposed.
I recommended that you test for this condition in your destructor and also that you implement and use the IDisposable interface. You can then subscribe to the either the Application.Exit event or Application.ApplicationExit event and call dispose there.
Be sure to keep the code in the destructor (but make sure you have it in a try block) in case the program crashes or there is some other, unexpected exit.

Upvotes: 3

Eugen Rieck
Eugen Rieck

Reputation: 65244

Basically your question says i all: You need to save, but you don't know when, as the knowledge about the savepoints is otside your class.

My recommendation is to wrap your calls - assuming you have something like public void MyClass.SomeEditing(int foo), create a wrapper like public void MyClass.SomeEditing(int foo, bool ShouldSave) with shouldsave defaultingto true.

This way, a consumer of your class can decide, wether he wants an immediate save or not, chosing false if he knows, an immediately following other edit will cause the save. Existing code, which calls the "old" API is protected by the default of "save imediately"

Upvotes: 3

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