Question

I have a console application that reads an XML file and outputs everything into a console.
I need to convert this application to output the data on an .aspx page.

This is the code

 // Declare XmlTextReader.
        XmlTextReader r = new XmlTextReader("../../persons.xml");

        while (r.Read())
        {
            switch (r.NodeType)
            {
                case XmlNodeType.Element:
                    if (r.Name == "Persons")
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("<table>");
                        Console.WriteLine("    <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Gender</th> <th>Age</th> </tr>");
                    }
                    else if (r.Name == "Person")
                    {
                        Console.Write("    <tr> ");
                    }
                    else if (r.Name == "Name" ||
                             r.Name == "Gender" || r.Name == "Age")
                    {
                        Console.Write("<td>");
                    }
                    break;

                case XmlNodeType.Text:
                    Console.Write(r.Value);
                    break;

                case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
                    if (r.Name == "Persons")
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("</table>\n");
                    }
                    else if (r.Name == "Person")
                    {
                        Console.Write("</tr>\n");
                    }
                    else if (r.Name == "Name" ||
                             r.Name == "Gender" || r.Name == "Age")
                    {
                        Console.Write(">/td> ");
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

I found a lot of examples on how to read XML using ASP.NET but unfortunately i need to this the hard way.

Answer 1

you need to add a literal control on your .aspx page like this:

<asp:Literal ID="Literal1" runat="server" />

Then modify the code like so:

// Declare XmlTextReader.
XmlTextReader r = new XmlTextReader("../../persons.xml");

//Add this stringBuilder
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

while (r.Read())
{
    switch (r.NodeType)
    {
        case XmlNodeType.Element:
            if (r.Name == "Persons")
            {
                sb.Append("<table>");
                sb.Append("    <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Gender</th> <th>Age</th> </tr>");
            }
            else if (r.Name == "Person")
            {
                sb.Append("    <tr> ");
            }
            else if (r.Name == "Name" ||
                     r.Name == "Gender" || r.Name == "Age")
            {
                sb.Append("<td>");
            }
            break;
       case XmlNodeType.Text:
            sb.Append(r.Value);
            break;
       case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
            if (r.Name == "Persons")
            {
                sb.Append("</table>\n");
            }
            else if (r.Name == "Person")
            {
                sb.Append("</tr>\n");
            }
            else if (r.Name == "Name" ||
                     r.Name == "Gender" || r.Name == "Age")
            {
                sb.Append(">/td> ");
            }
            break;
    }
}

//Add the result value to a literal control on the aspx page
Literal1.Text=sb.ToString();

cheers