How to Use XML File to Store Data and Retrieve Data Using ASP.Net With C#

Sourabh Somani
10y
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Introduction: This article explains how to use a XML file to store and retrieve data dynamically using ASP.NET with C#. This article will also help to create child nodes in a XML file using ASP.NET.

Use the following procedure to create a simple application (BookStore) for storing data to and retrieving data from a XML file.

Step 1: Create an ASP.NET project add one web web form and add the following controls:

Control Id	Control	Purpose
tbTitle	TextBox Control	To enter the title of the book.
tbAuthor	TextBox Control	To enter the Author Name of the book.
tbYear	TextBox Control	To enter the publishing year of the book.
tbPrice	TextBox Control	To enter the price of the book.
btnSubmit	Button Control	To Submit the data.
gvBookStoreRecords	GridView Control	To display data of XML File

I have designed my aspx page like as in the following:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
<style type="text/css">
.auto-style1 {
text-align: right;
width: 75px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td class="auto-style1">Title:</td>
<td>
<asp:TextBox ID="tbTitle" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="auto-style1">Author:</td>
<td>
<asp:TextBox ID="tbAuthor" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="auto-style1">Year:</td>
<td>
<asp:TextBox ID="tbYear" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="auto-style1">Price:</td>
<td>
<asp:TextBox ID="tbPrice" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="auto-style1"> </td>
<td>
<asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" runat="server" Text="Submit" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<asp:GridView ID="gvBookStoreRecords" runat="server" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None">
<AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" />
<EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />
<FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
<HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
<PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
<RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333" />
<SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />
<SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9E7E2" />
<SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#506C8C" />
<SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#FFFDF8" />
<SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6F8DAE" />
</asp:GridView>
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

And as in the code above I designed the page as in the following:

Step 2: Add an XML file within the project solution, provide it the name BookStore.xml. Create a root node in it as in the following:

<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
</bookstore>

Step 3: On the click event of the btnSubmit (Button that we have placed at aspx page) write the following code:

protected void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// creating object of XML DOCument class
XmlDocument XmlDocObj = new XmlDocument();
//loading XML File in memory
XmlDocObj.Load(Server.MapPath("BookStore.xml"));
//Select root node which is already defined
XmlNode RootNode = XmlDocObj.SelectSingleNode("bookstore");
//Creating one child node with tag name book
XmlNode bookNode = RootNode.AppendChild(XmlDocObj.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "book", ""));
//adding node title to book node and inside it data taking from tbTitle TextBox
bookNode.AppendChild(XmlDocObj.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "Title", "")).InnerText = tbTitle.Text;
//adding node Author to book node and inside it data taking from tbAuthor TextBox
bookNode.AppendChild(XmlDocObj.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "Author", "")).InnerText = tbAuthor.Text;
//adding node Year to book node and inside it data taking from tbYear TextBox
bookNode.AppendChild(XmlDocObj.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "Year", "")).InnerText = tbYear.Text;
//adding node tbPrice to book node and inside it data taking from tbPrice TextBox
bookNode.AppendChild(XmlDocObj.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "Price", "")).InnerText = tbPrice.Text;
//after adding node, saving BookStore.xml back to the server
XmlDocObj.Save(Server.MapPath("BookStore.xml"));
//Calling grid view binding method.
gridDataBind();
}