CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlvb.net
Null Spark
Null Spark

Reputation: 409

XML Reading Sub Not working

I am writing a Sub that reads an XML file from a given path, and then loads it into an array of objects. For some reason, the algorithm works fine for the name, but refuses to work with the cost and type tags. What is going on?

(UPDATE: refuses to work means it returns an empty string, or in the case of cost: 0)

Here is my code:

Public Sub New(ByVal Path As String)
    Try
        Dim XML As New XmlTextReader(Path)
        Try
            Dim Bool As Boolean = False
            Dim Name As String = ""
            Dim Cost As Double = 0
            Dim Type As String = ""
            While True
                XML.Read()
                If Bool Then
                    Select Case XML.Name
                        Case Is = "name"
                            XML.Read()
                            Name = XML.Value
                        Case Is = "cost"
                            XML.Read()
                            Double.TryParse(XML.Value, Cost)
                        Case Is = "type"
                            XML.Read()
                            Type = XML.Value
                    End Select
                End If
                If XML.Name = "card" Then
                    Bool = True
                End If
                If Not CheckNulls(Name, Cost, Type) Then //CheckNulls returns true if all arguments passed to it are either empty strings, or 0
                    Dim Card As New Card(Name, Cost, Type)
                    Deck.Add(Card)
                    Cost = 0
                    Name = ""
                    Type = ""
                    Bool = False
                End If
            End While
        Catch Ex As Exception
            Exit Sub
        End Try
    Catch Ex As Exception
        MsgBox("The System has encountered an error. Running the software anymore could cause a serious malfunction. Please exit now", MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly, "Error Message")
    End Try
End Sub

Here is the XML file: Mona Lisa 2000 art Polka Dots 35.85 art

Upvotes: 0

Views: 42

Answers (1)

Pradeep Kumar
Pradeep Kumar

Reputation: 6969

Reading XML data the way you are doing is both clumsy as well as error-prone. It is much better to use XPath Expressions to extract the data of your interest from an XML file, which gets you the data in just one line of code.

You can learn more about XPath Expressions syntax here, to get yourself started:

http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/xpath_syntax.asp

To learn how to use Xpath expressions in VB.NET code, you may find a lot of interesting articles on the internet. One of them that explains it in an easy to understand language is here:

http://www.aspsnippets.com/Articles/XmlDocument-XPath-Example-Select-XML-nodes-by-Name-and-Attribute-values-in-C-and-VBNet.aspx

Upvotes: 1

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