XmlTextReader.Read Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assembly:

System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Source:

XmlTextReader.cs

Reads the next node from the stream.

public:
 override bool Read();

public override bool Read ();

override this.Read : unit -> bool

Public Overrides Function Read () As Boolean

Returns

Boolean

true if the next node was read successfully; false if there are no more nodes to read.

Exceptions

XmlException

An error occurred while parsing the XML.

Examples

The following example reads an XML file and displays each node.

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   XmlTextReader^ reader = nullptr;
   String^ filename = "items.xml";
   try
   {
      
      // Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
      reader = gcnew XmlTextReader( filename );
      reader->WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling::None;
      
      // Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
      while ( reader->Read() )
      {
         switch ( reader->NodeType )
         {
            case XmlNodeType::Element:
               Console::Write( "<{0}>", reader->Name );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Text:
               Console::Write( reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::CDATA:
               Console::Write( "<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::ProcessingInstruction:
               Console::Write( "<?{0} {1}?>", reader->Name, reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Comment:
               Console::Write( "<!--{0}-->", reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::XmlDeclaration:
               Console::Write( "<?xml version='1.0'?>" );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Document:
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::DocumentType:
               Console::Write( "<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader->Name, reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::EntityReference:
               Console::Write( reader->Name );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::EndElement:
               Console::Write( "</{0}>", reader->Name );
               break;
         }
      }
   }
   finally
   {
      if ( reader != nullptr )
            reader->Close();
   }

}

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

public class Sample {

  private const String filename = "items.xml";

  public static void Main() {

     XmlTextReader reader = null;

     try {

        // Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.
        reader = new XmlTextReader(filename);
        reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;

        // Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
        while (reader.Read()) {
           switch (reader.NodeType) {
             case XmlNodeType.Element:
               Console.Write("<{0}>", reader.Name);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Text:
               Console.Write(reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.CDATA:
               Console.Write("<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction:
               Console.Write("<?{0} {1}?>", reader.Name, reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Comment:
               Console.Write("<!--{0}-->", reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.XmlDeclaration:
               Console.Write("<?xml version='1.0'?>");
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Document:
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.DocumentType:
               Console.Write("<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader.Name, reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.EntityReference:
               Console.Write(reader.Name);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
               Console.Write("</{0}>", reader.Name);
               break;
           }
        }
     }

     finally {
        if (reader!=null)
          reader.Close();
     }
  }
} // End class

Option Strict
Option Explicit

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

'Reads an XML document
Public Class Sample
    Private Const filename As String = "items.xml"
    
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim reader As XmlTextReader = Nothing
        
        Try
            ' Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
            reader = New XmlTextReader(filename)
            reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None
            
            ' Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
            While reader.Read()
                Select Case reader.NodeType
                    Case XmlNodeType.Element
                        Console.Write("<{0}>", reader.Name)
                    Case XmlNodeType.Text
                        Console.Write(reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.CDATA
                        Console.Write("<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction
                        Console.Write("<?{0} {1}?>", reader.Name, reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.Comment
                        Console.Write("<!--{0}-->", reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.XmlDeclaration
                        Console.Write("<?xml version='1.0'?>")
                    Case XmlNodeType.Document
                    Case XmlNodeType.DocumentType
                        Console.Write("<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader.Name, reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.EntityReference
                        Console.Write(reader.Name)
                    Case XmlNodeType.EndElement
                        Console.Write("</{0}>", reader.Name)
                End Select
            End While
        
        Finally
            If Not (reader Is Nothing) Then
                reader.Close()
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

The sample uses the file items.xml.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- This is a sample XML document -->
<!DOCTYPE Items [<!ENTITY number "123">]>
<Items>
  <Item>Test with an entity: &number;</Item>
  <Item>test with a child element <more/> stuff</Item>
  <Item>test with a CDATA section <![CDATA[<456>]]> def</Item>
  <Item>Test with an char entity: A</Item>
  <!-- Fourteen chars in this element.-->
  <Item>1234567890ABCD</Item>
</Items>

Remarks

Note

Starting with the .NET Framework 2.0, we recommend that you create XmlReader instances by using the XmlReader.Create method to take advantage of new functionality.

When a reader is first created and initialized, there is no information available. You must call Read to read the first node.

This method requires at least four bytes from the data stream in order to begin parsing. If fewer than four bytes are returned and there is no more data in the stream, the method will fail. If there is more data in the stream, the method will block parsing until receipt of the fourth byte.

See also

• EntityHandling
• XmlReader