[RESOLVED] Merge multiple XML files to a single XML file.

I would like to find an example using Linq to Xml that will merge n number of Xml Files.

I already have this code from MSDN that does this, but it doesn't use Linq.

C# Code:

try
    {
        XmlTextReader xmlreader1 = new XmlTextReader("C:\\Books1.xml");
        XmlTextReader xmlreader2 = new XmlTextReader("C:\\Books2.xml");
 
        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
        ds.ReadXml(xmlreader1);
        DataSet ds2 = new DataSet();
        ds2.ReadXml(xmlreader2);
        ds.Merge(ds2);
        ds.WriteXml("C:\\Books.xml");
        Console.WriteLine("Completed merging XML documents");
    }
    catch (System.Exception ex)
    {
        Console.Write(ex.Message);
    }
Console.Read();

I want to check if Linq is faster than the above method.
I have something along the lines of this code snippet.

C# Code:

var xml1 = XDocument.Load("C:\\Books1.xml");
var xml2 = XDocument.Load("C:\\Books2.xml");
 
//Combine and remove duplicates
var combined = xml1.Descendants("AllNodes")
                          .Union(xml2.Descendants("AllNodes"));

combined is of type System.Linq.Enumerable.UnionIterator<System.Xml.Linq.XElement>

How do I serialize it to an XML file?

Might be a little off without having some sample xml documents to work with.

Code:

---

            var xml1 = XDocument.Load("C:\Temp\Books1.xml");
            var xml2 = XDocument.Load("C:\Temp\Books2.xml");

            xml1.Descendants("AllBooks").FirstOrDefault()
                .Add(xml2.Descendants("AllBooks").FirstOrDefault().Nodes());

            xml1.Save("C:\Temp\CombinedBooks.xml");

---

Hi MattP,
Thanks for the response. Firstly I apologize that I did not post the files in question. Both files have root elements.
So the structure looks something like this.

PHP Code:

---

<Root>
    <Books>
    <Book Id="AAHAH">
    <TITLE>Paths of Glory</TITLE>
    <AUTHOR>Jeffrey Archer</AUTHOR>
    <YEAR>2010</YEAR>
    </Book>
    </Books>
</Root> 


---

I realize that your method will not work for me. I will have to do something along the lines of selecting elements from both xml files and then merging them.

Regards,
Abhijit

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly.

Here's my Books1.xml that I used:

Code:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Root>
        <Books>
                <Book Id="Book1">
                        <TITLE>Title of Book 1</TITLE>
                        <AUTHOR>Author of Book 1</AUTHOR>
                        <YEAR>2010</YEAR>
                </Book>
                <Book Id="Book2">
                        <TITLE>Title of Book 2</TITLE>
                        <AUTHOR>Author of Book 2</AUTHOR>
                        <YEAR>2011</YEAR>
                </Book>
        </Books>
</Root>

---

And Books2.xml:

Code:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Root>
        <Books>
                <Book Id="Book3">
                        <TITLE>Title of Book 3</TITLE>
                        <AUTHOR>Author of Book 3</AUTHOR>
                        <YEAR>2006</YEAR>
                </Book>
                <Book Id="Book4">
                        <TITLE>Title of Book 4</TITLE>
                        <AUTHOR>Author of Book 4</AUTHOR>
                        <YEAR>2000</YEAR>
                </Book>
        </Books>
</Root>

---

Here's the code I used to test with:

Code:

---

            var xml1 = XDocument.Load("C:\\Temp\\Books1.xml");
            var xml2 = XDocument.Load("C:\\Temp\\Books2.xml");

            xml1.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Add(xml2.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Nodes());

            xml1.Save("C:\\Temp\\CombinedBooks.xml");

---

And here's the resultant CombinedBooks.xml:

Code:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Root>
  <Books>
    <Book Id="Book1">
      <TITLE>Title of Book 1</TITLE>
      <AUTHOR>Author of Book 1</AUTHOR>
      <YEAR>2010</YEAR>
    </Book>
    <Book Id="Book2">
      <TITLE>Title of Book 2</TITLE>
      <AUTHOR>Author of Book 2</AUTHOR>
      <YEAR>2011</YEAR>
    </Book>
    <Book Id="Book3">
      <TITLE>Title of Book 3</TITLE>
      <AUTHOR>Author of Book 3</AUTHOR>
      <YEAR>2006</YEAR>
    </Book>
    <Book Id="Book4">
      <TITLE>Title of Book 4</TITLE>
      <AUTHOR>Author of Book 4</AUTHOR>
      <YEAR>2000</YEAR>
    </Book>
  </Books>
</Root>

---

You say you've got n number of files to go through. Just keep adding the nodes to xml1.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault() and then save the merged files when you're done.

Code:

---

            var xml1 = XDocument.Load(@"C:\Temp\Books1.xml");
            var xml2 = XDocument.Load(@"C:\Temp\Books2.xml");

            xml1.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Add(xml2.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Nodes());

            var xml3 = XDocument.Load(@"C:\Temp\Books3.xml");

            xml1.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Add(xml3.Descendants("Books").FirstOrDefault().Nodes());

            xml1.Save("C:\\Temp\\CombinedBooks.xml");

---

If you're looking for something different then I'll need a little more information on what you'd like the end result to look like before I can help.