XmlDocument.Load Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Loads the specified XML data from a Stream, a URL, a TextReader, or an XmlReader.

Overloads

Load(Stream)	Loads the XML document from the specified stream.
Load(TextReader)	Loads the XML document from the specified TextReader.
Load(String)	Loads the XML document from the specified URL.
Load(XmlReader)	Loads the XML document from the specified XmlReader.

Load(Stream)

Source:

XmlDocument.cs

Loads the XML document from the specified stream.

C#

public virtual void Load(System.IO.Stream inStream);

Parameters

inStream

Stream

The stream containing the XML document to load.

Exceptions

XmlException

There is a load or parse error in the XML. In this case, a FileNotFoundException is raised.

Remarks

Note

The Load method always preserves significant white space. The PreserveWhitespace property determines whether or not insignificant white space, that is white space in element content, is preserved. The default is false; white space in element content is not preserved.

If you want validation to occur, you can create a validating XmlReader instance by using the XmlReaderSettings class and the Create method. For more information, see the Remarks section of the XmlReader reference page.

This method is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

This method automatically detects the string format of the input XML (for example, UTF-8, ANSI, and so on). If your application needs to know which encoding is used to read the stream, consider using an XmlTextReader object to read the stream, and then use the XmlTextReader.Encoding property to determine the encoding. If you need to use a XmlDocument object to work with XML, you can use the XmlTextReader object to create one. For more information, see Reading XML Data using XPathDocument and XmlDocument.

See also

• ValidationEventArgs
• XmlSeverityType
• Schemas

Load(TextReader)

Source:

XmlDocument.cs

Loads the XML document from the specified TextReader.

C#

public virtual void Load(System.IO.TextReader txtReader);

Parameters

txtReader

TextReader

The TextReader used to feed the XML data into the document.

Exceptions

XmlException

There is a load or parse error in the XML. In this case, the document remains empty.

Examples

The following example uses the StringReader class to load a string of XML data into the XmlDocument object.

C#

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample {

  public static void Main() {

    // Create the XmlDocument.
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
    string xmlData = "<book xmlns:bk='urn:samples'></book>";

    doc.Load(new StringReader(xmlData));

    // Create a new element and add it to the document.
    XmlElement elem = doc.CreateElement("bk", "genre", "urn:samples");
    elem.InnerText = "fantasy";
    doc.DocumentElement.AppendChild(elem);

    Console.WriteLine("Display the modified XML...");
    doc.Save(Console.Out);
  }
}

Remarks

Note

The Load method always preserves significant white space. The PreserveWhitespace property determines whether or not insignificant white space, that is white space in element content, is preserved. The default is false; white space in element content is not preserved.

If you want validation to occur, you can create a validating XmlReader instance by using the XmlReaderSettings class and the Create method. For more information, see the Remarks section of the XmlReader reference page.

This method is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

See also

• StreamReader
• ValidationEventArgs
• XmlSeverityType
• Schemas

Load(String)

Source:

XmlDocument.cs

Loads the XML document from the specified URL.

C#

public virtual void Load(string filename);

Parameters

filename

String

URL for the file containing the XML document to load. The URL can be either a local file or an HTTP URL (a Web address).

Exceptions

XmlException

There is a load or parse error in the XML. In this case, a FileNotFoundException is raised.

ArgumentException

filename is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars.

ArgumentNullException

filename is null.

PathTooLongException

The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.

DirectoryNotFoundException

The specified path is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive).

IOException

An I/O error occurred while opening the file.

UnauthorizedAccessException

filename specified a file that is read-only.

-or-

This operation is not supported on the current platform.

-or-

filename specified a directory.

-or-

The caller does not have the required permission.

FileNotFoundException

The file specified in filename was not found.

NotSupportedException

filename is in an invalid format.

SecurityException

The caller does not have the required permission.

Remarks

Note

The Load method always preserves significant white space. The PreserveWhitespace property determines whether or not insignificant white space, that is white space in element content, is preserved. The default is false; white space in element content is not preserved.

If you want validation to occur, you can create a validating XmlReader instance by using the XmlReaderSettings class and the Create method. For more information, see the Remarks section of the XmlReader reference page.

This method is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

See also

• ValidationEventArgs
• XmlSeverityType
• Schemas

Load(XmlReader)

Source:

XmlDocument.cs

Loads the XML document from the specified XmlReader.

C#

public virtual void Load(System.Xml.XmlReader reader);

Parameters

reader

XmlReader

The XmlReader used to feed the XML data into the document.

Exceptions

XmlException

There is a load or parse error in the XML. In this case, the document remains empty.

Examples

The following example loads the last book node of the books.xml file into the XML document.

C#

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample
{
  public static void Main()
  {
    //Create the XmlDocument.
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();

    //Load the document with the last book node.
    XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader("books.xml");
    reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;
    reader.MoveToContent();
    reader.Read();
    reader.Skip(); //Skip the first book.
    reader.Skip(); //Skip the second book.
    doc.Load(reader);

    doc.Save(Console.Out);
  }
}

The example uses the file, books.xml, as input.

XML

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!-- This file represents a fragment of a book store inventory database -->
<bookstore>
  <book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
    <title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
    <author>
      <first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
      <last-name>Franklin</last-name>
    </author>
    <price>8.99</price>
  </book>
  <book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
    <title>The Confidence Man</title>
    <author>
      <first-name>Herman</first-name>
      <last-name>Melville</last-name>
    </author>
    <price>11.99</price>
  </book>
  <book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
    <title>The Gorgias</title>
    <author>
      <name>Plato</name>
    </author>
    <price>9.99</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

Remarks

Note

The Load method always preserves significant white space. The PreserveWhitespace property determines whether or not insignificant white space, that is white space in element content, is preserved. The default is false; white space in element content is not preserved.

If the reader is in the initial state (ReadState =ReadState.Initial), Load consumes the entire contents of the reader and builds the DOM from what it finds.

If the reader is already positioned on some node at depth "n", this method loads that node and all subsequent siblings up to the end tag that closes depth "n". This has the following results.

If the current node and its siblings look like the following:

XML

<!--comment--><element1>one</element1><element2>two</element2>

Load throws an exception because a document cannot have two root level elements. If the current node and its siblings look like the following:

XML

<!--comment--><?process instruction?><!--comment--></endtag>

Load succeeds, but you have an incomplete DOM tree because there is no root level element. Before you save the document, you must add a root level element, otherwise Save will throw an exception.

If the reader is positioned on a leaf node that is invalid for the root level of a document, for example a white space or attribute node, the reader continues to read until it is positioned on a node that can be used for the root. The document begins loading at this point.

If you want validation to occur, you can create a validating XmlReader instance by using the XmlReaderSettings class and the Create method. For more information, see the Remarks section of the XmlReader reference page.

This method is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

See also

• ValidationEventArgs
• XmlSeverityType
• Schemas