C# XmlTextReader Type

XmlTextReader. With XmlTextReader we parse XML data. This type acts upon a string containing XML markup.

We use the XmlTextReader constructor and develop a custom parser for XML data. This is an efficient approach to XML parsing.

Example. Let's get started with this simple example program. A complete XML document is stored inside a string literal. With the StringReader constructor, we read this string as a StringReader.

String Literal

Next: We pass the StringReader to the XmlTextReader constructor. In the while-loop, we read nodes and proceed if we detect a start element.

StringReaderWhile

C# program that uses XmlTextReader

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
	string input = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-16""?><List>
<Employee><ID>1</ID><First>David</First>
  <Last>Smith</Last><Salary>10000</Salary></Employee>
<Employee><ID>3</ID><First>Mark</First>
  <Last>Drinkwater</Last><Salary>30000</Salary></Employee>
<Employee><ID>4</ID><First>Norah</First>
  <Last>Miller</Last><Salary>20000</Salary></Employee>
<Employee><ID>12</ID><First>Cecil</First>
  <Last>Walker</Last><Salary>120000</Salary></Employee>
</List>";

	using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(input))
	using (XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(stringReader))
	{
	    while (reader.Read())
	    {
		if (reader.IsStartElement())
		{
		    switch (reader.Name)
		    {
			case "Employee":
			    Console.WriteLine();
			    break;
			case "ID":
			    Console.WriteLine("ID: " + reader.ReadString());
			    break;
			case "First":
			    Console.WriteLine("First: " + reader.ReadString());
			    break;
			case "Last":
			    Console.WriteLine("Last: " + reader.ReadString());
			    break;
			case "Salary":
			    Console.WriteLine("Salary: " + reader.ReadString());
			    break;
		    }
		}
	    }
	}
    }
}

Output

ID: 1
First: David
Last: Smith
Salary: 10000

ID: 3
First: Mark
Last: Drinkwater
Salary: 30000

ID: 4
First: Norah
Last: Miller
Salary: 20000

ID: 12
First: Cecil
Last: Walker
Salary: 120000

Switch statement. We process each tag name differently in the switch statement. For elements containing values (such as ID, First, Last and Salary) we use ReadString to read in the next node as a string. We display that string.

String Switch

XmlReader and XmlTextReader are basically the same. When you call XmlTextReader.Create, an XmlReader is returned. But the XmlTextReader provides more constructors. The functionality is essentially the same.

XmlReader

Summary. We looked at the XmlTextReader type in the C# programming language and the .NET Framework. With XmlTextReader, we gain more constructors for using an XmlReader. These types can be used to develop fast custom parsers for XML files.

But: If execution speed is not important, other types such as XElement can lead to faster development.

XElement

Related Links