Question

I am reading some data stored in Xml format in SQL Server database and I am using C# to read this data. We have a type called XmlText in System.Xml but it doesn’t allow me to convert and store the data from SqlXml to XmlText. I need to copy the data from database in XML format to some object and then serialize that object. Then I need to send a collection of objects over the network. What is the solution here?

Answer 1

Ultimately, there is no direct link between SqlXml and XmlText (and indeed, XmlText only represents a specific type of node, not xml). You are going to have to go down to string or byte[] level and back up again (since you aren’t using the streaming reader). For example:

string xml = reader.GetSqlXml(7).Value;
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);

or:

string xml = reader.GetSqlXml(7).Value;
XElement el = XElement.Parse(xml); 

---

or (perhaps more efficient) using the XmlReader API:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
using(XmlReader xr = reader.GetSqlXml(7).CreateReader()) {
    doc.Load(xr);
}

and

XElement el;
using(XmlReader xr = reader.GetSqlXml(7).CreateReader()) {
    el = XElement.Load(xr);
}