Question

Is it possible to read in an xml string and use the attributes for column naming?

For example using the following xml.

<root>
<CategoryInfo>
    <column name="Category Name" value="1.  In agreement" />
    <column name="Category ID" value="1" />
</CategoryInfo>
<CategoryInfo>
    <column name="Category Name" value="2.  Small conflict" />
    <column name="Category ID" value="2" />
</CategoryInfo>
<CategoryInfo>
    <column name="Category Name" value="3. Strongly Disagree" />
    <column name="Category ID" value="3" />
</CategoryInfo>
<CategoryInfo>
    <column name="Category Name" value="4. Mark For CommitteeReview" />
    <column name="Category ID" value="4" />
</CategoryInfo>

I would like to use

    Dim ds As New DataSet()
    Dim stream As New IO.StringReader(xmlData.ToString)
    ds.ReadXml(stream)
    Dim dt As DataTable = ds.Tables(0)

To convert it to a datatable, but the attributes mess it all up.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

This loops through and adds each attribute as a column name. Not sure if its along the lines for what you’re looking for but it gives you another option.

Dim dt As New DataTable
    Dim xmlReader As XmlTextReader = New XmlTextReader("C:\yourxml.xml")
    While xmlReader.Read
        If xmlReader.Name = "column" Then
            If xmlReader.HasAttributes Then
                While xmlReader.MoveToNextAttribute()
                    If Not dt.Columns.Contains(xmlReader.Value) Then
                        dt.Columns.Add(xmlReader.Value)
                    End If
                    Debug.WriteLine(xmlReader.Name + " " + xmlReader.Value)

                End While
            End If
        End If
    End While