Question

public string GetArtistThumbnail(string artistName) {     var request =         WebRequest.Create('http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/2.0/?method=artist.getinfo&artist=' + artistName +         '&api_key=' +          APIKey) as HttpWebRequest;      using (var response = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)     {         var ds = new DataSet();         ds.ReadXml(response.GetResponseStream()); // <-- Exception is thrown here     }      return '';    } 

The above method basically retrieves an xml file from one of LastFM’s API Services.

Now, I am facing the following exception when filling the dataset from the xml with the ReadXml method:

The table (artist) cannot be the child table to itself in nested relations.

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Here is an example of an XML file that is being retrieved

Notice that there is a nested Artist in the XML file, and I obviously presume that that is the reason for the exception.

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My question, how can I prevent this from happening? as regards the nested tables

Answer 1

As far as I know, DataSets aren’t meant to hold just about any type of XML. Do you really need a dataset in this case?

I suggest switching to linq 2 xml or XmlDocument to manipulate the results of the web service.