Question

Hi i am trying to load XML document and populate few checkboxlist. I use DataTextField as below.

    <asp:CheckBoxList ID="cblcountry" runat="server" DataTextField="CountryofBirth">

And in the code behind i use this code below.

    Dim dSet As New DataSet
    dSet.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("xsource.xml"))
    cblcountry.DataSource = dSet
    cblcountry.DataBind()

And this is xml doc.

    <pupil>
    <academicYear>2011/2010</academicYear>
    <grade>Kindergarten 1</grade>
    <class>class 1</class>    
    <name>emma</name>
    <admissionDate>01/05/2010</admissionDate>
    <CountryofBirth>United Kingdom</CountryofBirth>
    <fullName>emma watson</fullName>
    </pupil>

It loads everything fine. But it has duplicated items. For example, if there are 5 people with CountryofBirth is United Kingdom than checkboxlist show it 5 times. If i delete CountryofBirth from 1 block of XML, it still shows a blank checkboxitem.

So my question is how do i get checkboxlist without showing those duplicated data. I am just developing a prototype (working demo) so easiest way would be more appreciated.

Thanks so much guys. I love this forum.

Answer 1

The drop down list will add a list item for every Puplil element in the XML document. You should first filter the XML (or dataset) to a distinct list of countries and then bind to the drop down list control.

Edit w/ Linq Example:

First, remove the DataTextField=”CountryofBirth” from your Aspx Page.

Second…

    Dim dSet As New DataSet
    dSet.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("xsource.xml"))

    Dim lstCountries As List(Of String) = (From dr As DataRow In ds.Tables(0).Rows _
                                           Select CStr(dr.Item("CountryofBirth"))).Distinct.ToList()

    cblcountry.DataSource = lstCountries
    cblcountry.DataBind()