C# - Effectively using an XmlReader

Question

Ok, so I have this XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Item>
    <Name>Iron Repeater</Name>
    <AutoReuse>true</AutoReuse>
    <UseAnimation>19</UseAnimation>
    <UseTime>19</UseTime>
    <Width>50</Width>
    <Height>18</Height>
    <Shoot>1</Shoot>
    <UseAmmo>1</UseAmmo>
    <UseSound>5</UseSound>
    <Damage>39</Damage>
    <ShootSpeed>11</ShootSpeed>
    <NoMelee>true</NoMelee>
    <Value>200000</Value>
    <Ranged>true</Ranged>
    <Rarity>4</Rarity>
    <Knockback>2.5</Knockback>

    <CraftStack>1</CraftStack>

    <CraftItem1>Wood</CraftItem1>
    <CraftValue1>1</CraftValue1>

    <CraftTile1>18</CraftTile1>

    <FinishCrafting/>

</Item>

And it's being read similar to this:

foreach (string s in API.itemFiles)
{
    using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(s))
    {
        string aTile;
        string aStack;
        string item;
        string iName;
        int tile;
        int stack;
        int iStack;
        reader.MoveToContent();
        while (reader.Read())
        {
            if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
            {
                if (reader.IsStartElement())
                {
                    switch (reader.Name)
                    {
                        //Le cases here
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

API.itemFiles is:

public static string[] itemFiles = Directory.GetFiles(itemSave, "*.xml");

Whenever I attempt to read an XML file that way, it doesn't seem to parse the element content (I do readElementContentAsXX();) into variables or whatever, but it does seem to find the elements alright.

Is there anything I'm doing wrong? Anything I can improve on? If there are any other methods for reading XML (It'll be planning to have tons of XML files; I need it to be efficient) please say!

Thanks!

Markus Jarderot · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-18 09:54:49Z

2

I can't find anything explicitly wrong with your solution. Switching on reader.Name worked when i tested it.

I'd recommend using some more more conventional XML format. Instead of numbered elements, you move those into sub-elements:

<Item>
    ...
    <Stacks>
        <Stack>
            <Item>Wood</Item>
            <Value>1</Value>
            <Tile>18</Tile>
        </Stack>
    </Stacks>
</Item>

You could then use XML object serialization to parse the files. It would be less error prone.

public class Item
{
    public string Name;
    public bool AutoReuse;
    public int UseAnimation;
    public int UseTime;
    public int Width;
    public int Height;
    public int Shoot;
    public int UseAmmo;
    public int UseSound;
    public int Damage;
    public int ShootSpeed;
    public bool NoMelee;
    public int Value;
    public bool Ranged;
    public int Rarity;
    public decimal Knockback;
    public List<Stack> Stacks;
}

public class Stack
{
    public string Item;
    public int Value;
    public int Tile;
}

XmlSerializer x = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Item));
var item = (Item) x.Deserialize(steam);

edited Mar 18, 2012 at 9:54

answered Mar 18, 2012 at 9:49

Markus Jarderot

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1 Comment

Marc Gravell Over a year ago

Fully agree - good answer. I would suggest using properties, though.

Marc Gravell · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-18 09:51:58Z

0

"tons of XML files" isn't a problem; it only becomes an issue when you have a huge megalith of a single XML file. Since you don't have that, use a DOM. Either XmlDocument or XDocument will handle this trivially, and are much easier to usethan XmlReader. If you are mapping to classes (or could do), XmlSerializer would be a good option.

XmlReader is notoriously hard to use robustly without extensive knowledge and/or debugging (conversely, XmlWriter is a breeze).

answered Mar 18, 2012 at 9:51

Marc Gravell

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