How to read an xml file as string in vb

Question

I'm trying to read from an onix file and save the information onto a mysql database.

I'm able to read titles, country code, isbn and other fields but for some strange reason I cant get short description.

The short description field <d102><d104> is embed in html text and when I try to read from it without any alternations it doesnt work and if i tried to save it as a string does the same.

On the database I created a field in the table shortdescription varchar(70) and i also, at first thought it was the amount its allowed to stored "varchar(70)" if I increase it, doesn't help!

This is part of an onix feed I'm trying to read

<othertext>
      <d102>01</d102>
      <d104><![CDATA[A Course in Behavioral Economics  is a concise and reader-friendly      
introduction to one of the most influential areas of economics today. Covering all core areas of the subject, the book requires no advanced mathematics and is full of examples, exercises, and problems drawn from the fields of economics, management, marketing, political science, and public policy, among others. It is an ideal first textbook for students coming to behavioral economics from a wide range of disciplines, and would also appeal to the general reader looking for a thorough and readable introduction to the subject.

Available to lecturers: access to an Instructor's Manual at www.palgrave.com/economics/angner, containing a sample syllabus,
instructor guide, sample handouts and examinations, and PowerPoint slides.]]></d104>
</othertext>

I tried using this code below, the same theory worked for getting the isbn etc.:

Function HandleTagName(name as String) as XName 
    Select Case name
        Case "d104", "text"
            If ShortName Then
                Return "d104"
            Else
                Return "text"
            End If
     end select 
end function 

dim xmlDoc as XDocument
dim xr as XmlTextReader = new XmlTextReader(Server.MapPath(ThisBook.FromFile))
xr.Namespaces = false

dim  document as XmlDocument = new XmlDocument()
document.Load(xr)
xr.close()
    if not document("ONIXmessage") is Nothing then
        Dim attrColl as XmlAttributeCollection = document("ONIXmessage").Attributes
        attrColl.RemoveAll()
    end if

xmlDoc = XDocument.Parse(document.OuterXML)

Dim Products As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

if xmlDoc.DocumentType is Nothing then
     ShortName = True
else
     if instr(xmlDoc.DocumentType.ToString(), "/short") then
          ShortName = True
     end if
end if

Products = from product in xmlDoc.Root.Descendants(HandleTagName("Product"))

For Each ThisOtherText In product.Elements(HandleTagName("OtherText"))
    If ThisOtherText.Element(HandleTagName("TextTypeCode")) = "02" Then         
        If ThisBook.shortDescription = "" Then 
           ' if you say 
           ' dim xxx as string = "test"
           ' ThisBook.shortDescription = xxx

           ThisBook.shortDescription = ThisOtherText.Element(HandleTagName("Text"))
        End if 
    End If
Next

I'm not sure if its something i'm not doing right in the code or is it something to do with how i declared shortdescription on the database

Answer 1

Let us say a variable named xmldata is made, containing all of the xml file inside the tag, as a string. Hopefully you know how to get to that point. From there, you need to split the string into an array based on the '[' character. Use the following line:

Dim Openbracketarray() as string = xmldata.split("[")

Next, you need to find the CDATA part. Use the below script:

Dim locationofCDATA as integer = 0 '0 just in case theres an error.'
For i = 0 to Openbracketarray.length - 1 'loop through all instances of a bracket found in the xml'
If Openbracketarray(i) = "CDATA"
locationofCDATA = i
EndIf
i = i + 1
Next

Now, with that location, find the contents of the CDATA string.

Dim CDATA as string = Openbracketarray(location of CDATA + 1)

But wait, we still have all the jargon at the end. Delete it with another split.

CDATA = CDATA.Split("]")(0)

This removes the close brackets after the CDATA String.

Answer 2

you can use Dataset To read XML:

    Dim ds As New DataSet
    Dim myString As String
    ds.ReadXml("Your Xml Path")
    myString = ds.Tables(0).Rows(0)("d104")

Answer 3

Oh, is all you want to do read a .xml file into a VB.NET string?

Imports System.IO
...
Dim xmlfilereader as streamreader = new streamreader("locationofxmlfile.xml")
dim xmlfilestring as string = xmlfilereader.read()

xmlfilestring is now a string containing your XML file. Is that all you wanted?

Answer 4

Assuming the following XML (just in case, below is a valid VB.NET declaration):

Dim xml = <othertext>
            <d102>01</d102>
            <d104><![CDATA[A Course in Behavioral Economics  is a concise and reader-friendly      
introduction to one of the most influential areas of economics today. Covering all core areas of the subject, the book requires no advanced mathematics and is full of examples, exercises, and problems drawn from the fields of economics, management, marketing, political science, and public policy, among others. It is an ideal first textbook for students coming to behavioral economics from a wide range of disciplines, and would also appeal to the general reader looking for a thorough and readable introduction to the subject.

Available to lecturers: access to an Instructor's Manual at www.palgrave.com/economics/angner, containing a sample syllabus,
instructor guide, sample handouts and examinations, and PowerPoint slides.]]></d104>
          </othertext>

This:

xml.<d104>.Value.ToString

yields a string:

A Course in Behavioral Economics is a concise and reader-friendly introduction to one of the most influential areas of economics today. Covering all core areas of the subject, the book requires no advanced mathematics and is full of examples, exercises, and problems drawn from the fields of economics, management, marketing, political science, and public policy, among others. It is an ideal first textbook for students coming to behavioral economics from a wide range of disciplines, and would also appeal to the general reader looking for a thorough and readable introduction to the subject. Available to lecturers: access to an Instructor's Manual at www.palgrave.com/economics/angner, containing a sample syllabus, instructor guide, sample handouts and examinations, and PowerPoint slides.

Is that what you want? If not, please let me know in comments.