xml comparison code in .Net

Question

Hi my project required me to compare two xml files, which are having same format but different data. Show those differences and merge the files to produce a new file. Is there any way to do this using c#?

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Does the data to be merged consist of rows with the same columns in each row? Is there a key that can be used to determine if a row exists? Do you not need to also compare the non-key data to determine if the data has changed? I will assume that the answer to all those questions is yes although the comaprison of non-key data is simply a matter of adding code for that. You can read the XML data into collections using the XmlSerializer Class then sort it if necessary then write a simple compare. Assuming there is not other data to be written the merged data could be written using the XmlSerializer Class.

Vinaya · Answer

Hi Thanks for reply... But my problem involves comapring the two xml files first.. I want comaprison which would create result as follows: What rows file 1 has that file 2 lacks What rows file 1 lacks that file 2 has what rows file 1 has and file 2 has but modified in file 2. Can you please help me.

naura pax · Answer

hi which version are you using? if it is 3.5 you can use LINQ to xml to query data from one xml and write it into another while there is a document way of doing it with datasets in this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311530 while this is one straight copy node to node just read the answer in the given post: http://www.csharpfriends.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=28347