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After creating an XML file, one way you can use it is to
display it in a grid-based window such as the DataGrid control or a spreadsheet. Another way you can display an XML file is in a browser. To do this, if you see the file
in Windows Explorer, in My Computer, or in My Documents, you can double-click it.
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Practical
Learning: Displaying an XML File in a Browser
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- Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and display the contents of the
IntroXML folder that contains the files created in the previous lesson
- Double-click the Employees.xml file
- Return to Notepad
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Using a Style Sheet to Display an XML File in a Browser |
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When an XML file is displayed in a browser, it appears in a format that would be
unclear to most people. If you want the XML code to display as if it were HTML,
you can create a cascading style sheet that would format the tags and display
the text as you prefer.
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Practical
Learning: Using a Style Sheet
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To create a CSS file, start another instance of Notepad and type the
following in it:
EmplNumber
{
display: block;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 16pt;
color: white;
font-family: Garamond, Georgia, 'Times New Roman' , Serif;
background-color: #990000;
}
FirstName
{
font-size: 10pt;
font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif;
background-color: white;
}
LastName
{
font-size: 10pt;
font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif;
background-color: white;
}
HourlySalary
{
font-size: 10pt;
color: #ff0066;
font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif;
background-color: white;
display: block;
}
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- Save the file as empl.css in your IntroXML folder
- To open the Employees.xml file, on the main menu, click File -> Open...
- Change the Files of Type to All Files
-
Select Employees.xml
- Click
Open
- Click the first line, press End and press Enter
- Type <?xml:stylesheet href="empl.css" type="text/css" ?>
- Close this instance of Notepad
- When asked whether you want to save the changes to the Employees.xml file,
click Yes
- Return to the browser and refresh it
- Close the browser
Instead of displaying the contents of an XML file in a
browser, you may want to open it as a document. To do this, you can call the XmlDocument.Load()
method. It comes in four versions. One of the versions of this method receives
the file name or path to an XML file as argument. Its syntax is:
Overloads Public Overridable Sub Load(ByVal filename As String)
The name of the XML file or its path must be passed to this
version of the Load() method. If the method succeeds, it opens the file.
If it doesn't, the compiler throws an XmlException type of exception.
Another way you can explore an XML file consists of reading
it. To support reading an XML file, the .NET Framework provides the XmlTextReader.
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