Question

With ASP.NET 3.5 I can easily bind to an XML file by using an XmlDataSource.

How can I bind to an XML string instead of a file?

Answer 1

Use the XmlDataSource.Data property.

XmlDataSource dataSource    = new XmlDataSource(); dataSource.Data             = '<root><element>Item #1</element><element>Item #2</element></root>'; dataSource.XPath            = 'root/element'; dataSource.DataBind(); 

Alternately, you could specify the data declaratively:

<asp:xmldatasource    id='XmlDataSource1'    runat='server'  >   <data>     <Books>       <LanguageBooks>         <Book Title='Pure JavaScript' Author='Wyke, Gilliam, and Ting'/>         <Book Title='Effective C++ Second Edition' Author='Scott Meyers'/>         <Book Title='Assembly Language Step-By-Step' Author='Jeff Duntemann'/>         <Book Title='Oracle PL/SQL' Author='Steven Feuerstein'/>       </LanguageBooks>        <SecurityBooks>         <Book Title='Counter Hack' Author='Ed Skoudis'/>       </SecurityBooks>      </Books>   </data> </asp:xmldatasource>