Better c# code - newbie question

.NET
1

i have some c# code that pulls value from an XML file. The code works, but I am positive there is a better way to code this - i’m sure using a “while” statement.

note: linkDesc1, linkDesc2, linkDesc3 are asp:label controls.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
    string fileName = "C:/Links.xml";
    XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(fileName);
    XPathNavigator nav = doc.CreateNavigator();

    // Compile a standard XPath expression
    XPathExpression exprd;
    exprd = nav.Compile("/Links/Description");
    XPathNodeIterator iterator = nav.Select(exprd);


    try
    {
        iterator.MoveNext();

XPathNavigator nav1 = iterator.Current.Clone();
LinkDesc1.Text = nav1.Value;

        iterator.MoveNext();

XPathNavigator nav2 = iterator.Current.Clone();
LinkDesc2.Text = nav2.Value;
iterator.MoveNext();
XPathNavigator nav3 = iterator.Current.Clone();
LinkDesc3.Text = nav3.Value;

i guess i have two specific questions:
1)how do you setup a variable to refer to a series of control IDs, eg linkDescN for linkdesc1/2/3
2)I would think I wouldnt need a new string for nav1/nav2/nav3. isnt there a way to just replace nav1 with the next iterator value.

Thanks

2

Sure man…


while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
XPathNavigator nav1 = iterator.Current.Clone();
LinkDesc1.Text = nav1.Value;
}
3

But that will set every iteration to linkdesc1, won’t it. I want each iteration in a different label

4

This might help you:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winforms/thread/da4d5435-0839-4eb6-861d-6afd5bc63442

5

Well, there are lots of ways to approach this, but it comes down to your page setup:

  1. Dynamically add Label controls to a container

while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
XPathNavigator nav1 = iterator.Current.Clone();
Label LinkDesc = new Label();
LinkDesc.Text = nav1.Value;

containerControl.Controls.Add(LinkDesc);
}
  1. Find the Label controls in a container

int ittr = 1;
while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
XPathNavigator nav1 = iterator.Current.Clone();
Label LinkDesc = (Label)container.FindControl("LinkDesc" + (ittr++));
LinkDesc.Text = nav1.Value;
}

And a few other other things I could think of. But the best would be to have a repeater or similar control and bind that to your XmlDocument.

6

Can you post the XML format? In most cases you don’t even want to touch the Xml directly. Boys parse, real men deserialize.

7

haha. Well said.

8

this is what I am using for XML, but i have no doubt it could be better.

<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<Links>
<Description>this is a story <br> it is really good</Description>
<Description>test desc</Description>
<Description>this is another test description</Description>
<Url>www.google.com</Url>
<Url>www.yahoo.com</Url>
<Url>test.com</Url>
</Links>

9

Yeah, I’d run with:


<links>
<link>
<description>yad yada yada</description>
<url>http://yada.example.com</url>
</link>
</links>

Then you should be able to use the XmlDeserializer to deserialize your links.