xml serilaization

[wiss.dev]

Hello, in my program i allow users to create templates which is entered into a datagridview. and i guess the best approach to save it is to serialize the datatable into a string and save it to an SQL xml datafield. is this achievable w/out having to write into an external file. thanks

[IanRyder]

Hi,

If I understand your question correctly then the simple answer is No. If you want to use stored information in your project, which in not hardcoded, then this stored information has to come from an external data file in one form or another.

In the case of XML, if you bind your DataGridView to a DataSet/DataTable you can then use the WriteXML method of those objects to save your information. Have a look here:-

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...v=vs.100).aspx

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Ian

[wild_bill]

Here's an example of serializing a DataTable to a string.

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        'create table
        Dim testDataTable As New DataTable("MyTable")
        testDataTable.Columns.Add("SomeColumn", GetType(String))

        'populate table
        testDataTable.Rows.Add(New Object() {"some data"})

        'write xml to memory stream
        Dim stream As New IO.MemoryStream
        testDataTable.WriteXml(stream)

        'convert memory stream into string
        Dim xmlString = ConvertStreamToString(stream)

    End Sub

    Private Function ConvertStreamToString(stream As IO.MemoryStream) As String

        stream.Position = 0
        Using reader = New IO.StreamReader(stream)
            Return reader.ReadToEnd
        End Using

    End Function

[dunfiddlin]

If you want to use stored information in your project, which in not hardcoded, then this stored information has to come from an external data file in one form or another.

Er .... you might want to rethink that a bit!

[techgnome]

The question was if the data could be stored in the database w/o having to use an intermediary file for the XML ... yes... by using the stream as wild_bill has shown...

-tg