[RESOLVED] Error reading xml file

[dolot]

I have the following code to read an xml document:

            Dim ReportDoc As New Xml.XmlDocument
            Dim Settings As New System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings

            Settings.ProhibitDtd = False
            Settings.ValidationType = Xml.ValidationType.None

            Using XmlReader As Xml.XmlReader = Xml.XmlTextReader.Create(AppFramework.AppFolders.PrimaryConfigurationReportsFolder & "facility_detail_report.xml", Settings)
                ReportDoc.Load(XmlReader)
            End Using

The code is reading the following xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE report_data
 [
  <!ENTITY hd_attributes  SYSTEM "../hazard_division_attributes.xml" >
  <!ENTITY type_code_attributes     SYSTEM "../type_code_attributes.xml" >
  <!ENTITY facility_data       SYSTEM "facility_export.xml"  >
]
>

<report_data>

  &hd_attributes;
  &type_code_attributes;
  &facility_data;

</report_data>

The VB code errors on the line with ReportDoc.Load(XmlReader). The error it gives is "Invalid text declaration. Line 1, position 21." I'm thinking this may be a red herring, since the line looks like something that is standard to xml files.

Since I'm kinda new to this whole xml/xsl transformation stuff, I'm not sure if the error is in the vb code or in the xml document. I've been copying and pasting stuff from different examples I've found, so that may be part of the issue as well.

Any help would be appreciated.

[techgnome]

&hd_attributes;
&type_code_attributes;
&facility_data;

is the problem... because you're reading it through a stream, it's not able to read the external files and expand out the entities into their proper format. eeeeh..... on the other hand.... check out the other three files you're referencing... the problem may be in there...

-tg

[dolot]

If I take my vb code and point it to a different xml file...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="es_related_report.xsl"?>

<!DOCTYPE es_related_codes 
 [
  <!ENTITY related_codes  SYSTEM "../qde_related_codes.xml" >
  <!ENTITY type_codes     SYSTEM "../typecodes.xml" >
  <!ENTITY criteria       SYSTEM "../qde_criteria.xml"  >
]
>


<es_related_codes>

  &related_codes;
  &type_codes;
  &criteria;

</es_related_codes>

It loads the xml, transforms it with an xsl file, and generates the html output just fine. (I knew I had copied this code from somewhere in the app that worked. ) So I'm thinking that my error is in one of the other files.

[techgnome]

Now comes the fun part... which one?

-tg

[dolot]

OK. So here's what I discovered.

Two of the xml files referenced were ones that I had made, while the other one was generated using the Dataset.WriteXml method. I figured the ones I made were probably the ones messed up, so I excluded them from my !DOCTYPE (dtd? is that what that's called?) But the problem was still there. So I looked at the file generated by WriteXml. The topline read as thus:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?>

I changed standalone to 'no', but that didn't help, so I changed the line to the more standard looking:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

And now it works fine. Well, it works fine with just one file in the !DOCTYPE. Who know what I'll discover when I add those other two files back in.

That dataset gets generated on the fly every time I display this xml report. So the question is: How can I fix that first line in the dataset generated xml file to read differently from what is (apparently) the default?

[MattP]

You can use an XmlTextWriter to write the document header.

Using ds As New DataSet("TheDataSet")
            Dim dt As New DataTable("TheDataTable")
            With dt.Columns
                .Add("Field1", GetType(Integer)).AutoIncrement = True
                .Add("Field2", GetType(Integer))
            End With
            With dt.Rows
                .Add(Nothing, 11)
                .Add(Nothing, 12)
                .Add(Nothing, 13)
                .Add(Nothing, 14)
                .Add(Nothing, 15)
            End With
            ds.Tables.Add(dt)
            Using xtw As New XmlTextWriter("C:\Temp\output.xml", Encoding.UTF8)
                xtw.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
                xtw.WriteStartDocument()
                ds.WriteXml(xtw)
            End Using
        End Using

Here's the output

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TheDataSet>
  <TheDataTable>
    <Field1>0</Field1>
    <Field2>11</Field2>
  </TheDataTable>
  <TheDataTable>
    <Field1>1</Field1>
    <Field2>12</Field2>
  </TheDataTable>
  <TheDataTable>
    <Field1>2</Field1>
    <Field2>13</Field2>
  </TheDataTable>
  <TheDataTable>
    <Field1>3</Field1>
    <Field2>14</Field2>
  </TheDataTable>
  <TheDataTable>
    <Field1>4</Field1>
    <Field2>15</Field2>
  </TheDataTable>
</TheDataSet>

[dolot]

Thanks, Matt. That's a lot better than the ugly kludge I came up with.