SqlCommand.ExecuteXmlReader Method

Definition

Namespace:

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Assembly:

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.dll

Package:

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient v5.2.0

Sends the CommandText to the Connection and builds an XmlReader object.

public:
 System::Xml::XmlReader ^ ExecuteXmlReader();

public System.Xml.XmlReader ExecuteXmlReader ();

member this.ExecuteXmlReader : unit -> System.Xml.XmlReader

Public Function ExecuteXmlReader () As XmlReader

Returns

XmlReader

An XmlReader object.

Exceptions

InvalidCastException

A SqlDbType other than Binary or VarBinary was used when Value was set to Stream . For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

-or-

A SqlDbType other than Char, NChar, NVarChar, VarChar, or Xml was used when Value was set to TextReader .

-or-

A SqlDbType other than Xml was used when Value was set to XmlReader .

SqlException

An exception occurred while executing the command against a locked row. This exception is not generated when you are using Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.0.

-or-

A timeout occurred during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

InvalidOperationException

The SqlConnection closed or dropped during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

IOException

An error occurred in a Stream , XmlReader or TextReader object during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

ObjectDisposedException

The Stream , XmlReader or TextReader object was closed during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

Examples

The following example creates a SqlCommand and then executes it using ExecuteXmlReader. The example is passed a string that is a Transact-SQL FOR XML SELECT statement, and a string to use to connect to the data source.

using System;
using System.Data;
using Microsoft.Data.SqlClient;

private static void CreateXMLReader(string queryString,
    string connectionString)
{
    using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(
               connectionString))
    {
        connection.Open();
        SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(queryString, connection);
        System.Xml.XmlReader reader = command.ExecuteXmlReader();
    }
}

Remarks

The XmlReader returned by this method does not support asynchronous operations. The CommandText property ordinarily specifies a Transact-SQL statement with a valid FOR XML clause. However, CommandText can also specify a statement that returns ntext or nvarchar data that contains valid XML, or the contents of a column defined with the xml data type.

A typical ExecuteXmlReader query can be formatted as in the following Microsoft Visual C# example:

SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM dbo.Customers FOR XML AUTO, XMLDATA", SqlConn);

This method can also be used to retrieve a single-row, single-column result set that contains XML data. In this case, if more than one row is returned, the ExecuteXmlReader method attaches the XmlReader to the value on the first row, and discards the rest of the result set.

The multiple active result set (MARS) feature allows for multiple actions using the same connection.

If you use ExecuteReader or BeginExecuteReader to access XML data, SQL Server will return any XML results greater than 2,033 characters in length in multiple rows of 2,033 characters each. To avoid this behavior, use ExecuteXmlReader or BeginExecuteXmlReader to read FOR XML queries.