How to Search in XML and show results in GridView in C#?

Question

I have an XML data of Employees, I want to parse this data and show it in Gridview using C# in ASP.NET.

Based on search parameters like Employee ID or Company ID or Department ID, I should be able to filter the data and update the GridView.

Checked few links in internet, but nothing matches this particular format.. Is it possible to achieve.. (Any links to) code will be helpful.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
      <Employees>
        <Employee>
          <Id> TG18-2002</Id>
          <Name> AAPM^Test^Patterns</Name>
          <Sex> O </Sex>
          <Company>
            <Id> 2.16</Id>            
            <Department>
              <Id> 2.16.124</Id>
              <Project>
                <Id> 2.16.124.113543</Id>
              </Project>
            </Department>
          </Company>
        </Employee>
        <Employee>
          <ID> TG18-2003</ID>
          <Name> AAPM^Test^Patt</Name>
          <Sex> O </Sex>
          <Company>
            <ID> 2.16</ID>            
            <Department>
              <ID> 2.16.124</ID>
              <Project>
                <ID> 2.16.124.113543</ID>
              </Project>
            </Department>
          </Company>
        </Employee>
        <Employee>
      </Employees>

Note: I am trying to build something like, this

Answer 1

Looking at the link you referenced, I think you're best off creating an Employee class and filling this with the XML data.

This will allow you to de-couple your data (in this case XML, but could be anything) from your view (in this case ASP.NET Web Forms, but again could be anything), which I find handy and seems to be common these days (MVVM etc..).

Another benefit is that you can turn a nested data source like XML into something a little flatter to make your view binding simpler, for example in the example you provided you could make the Company fields available as properties of the outer Employee class.

Yet another benefit is that if/when your view becomes responsive, then you can make properties of your view model observable, and therefore allow updates to the model, immediately update your view.

All that said, here is a small snippet showing your Employee class, and filling it from the XML sample you provided. I am using Linq to XML, but there are so many ways you could do this (adapters, readers, navigators...).

I think the important thing here is that you de-couple your data from the view.

class Employee
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Sex { get; set; }
    public Company Company { get; set; }
}

class Company
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public Department Department { get; set; }
}

class Department
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public Project Project { get; set; }
}

class Project
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
}

var xml = @"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<Employees>
    <Employee>
        <Id> TG18-2002</Id>
        <Name> AAPM^Test^Patterns</Name>
        <Sex> O </Sex>
        <Company>
            <Id> 2.16</Id>
            <Department>
                <Id> 2.16.124</Id>
                <Project>
                    <Id> 2.16.124.113543</Id>
                </Project>
            </Department>
        </Company>
    </Employee>
    <Employee>
        <Id> TG18-2003</Id>
        <Name> AAPM^Test^Patt</Name>
        <Sex> O </Sex>
        <Company>
            <Id> 2.16</Id>
            <Department>
                <Id> 2.16.124</Id>
                <Project>
                    <Id> 2.16.124.113543</Id>
                </Project>
            </Department>
        </Company>
    </Employee>
</Employees>
";

// read the xml into the class
var doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
var data = (from row in doc.Root.Elements("Employee")
            let company = row.Element("Company")
            let dept = company.Element("Department")
            let project = dept.Element("Project")
            select new Employee
            {
                Id = row.Element("Id").Value.Trim(),
                Name = row.Element("Name").Value.Trim(),
                Sex = row.Element("Sex").Value.Trim(),
                Company = new Company
                {
                    Id = company.Element("Id").Value.Trim(),
                    Department = new Department
                    {
                        Id = dept.Element("Id").Value.Trim(),
                        Project = new Project
                        {
                            Id = project.Element("Id").Value.Trim()
                        }
                    }
                }
            });

// now you have a collection of 'employees', bind them..

Once we're that far, you need to decide how you want to query your data. The answer to this is as usual, it depends, and in this case I think it depends mostly on the size of the XML data you have and if it makes sense to bring this into memory or not.

If you can bring it into memory, then a collection of Employees is nice and simple to query using Linq and I would recommend this approach.

If the XML is large, then you will probably need to use an XMLReader to build your class. A little more complex, but the result should still be that you bind your grid to your class and keep the XML separate from the view.

Answer 2

as far my understanding you need to do maipulication in data before showing it in Grid Control.

for that i recommend you to use LINQ query. you can manipulicate the things at client side with queries. below i trying to solve the prob.

    DataSet xmlData = new DataSet();
    xmlData.ReadXml(YourXMLPath);

    DataTable dt =From x in xmlData.Tables[0].AsEnumerable().Where(x=>x.Field<string>("Name").StartWith("A")) Selct(x=>x).CopytodDataTable;

now you can use "dt" for your data grid

    xmlData.Tables[0]= dt;
    GridviewControl1.DataSource = xmlData.Tables[0];
    GridviewControl1.DataBind();//this line required if it is for asp.net

Hope it will helps you. :)

Answer 3

DataSet xmlData = new DataSet();
xmlData.ReadXml(YourXMLPath);
GridviewControl1.DataSource = xmlData.Tables[0];