How can I use XML as a data source in WebAPI .NET

Question

I'm having some problems with my WebAPI. I have followed the guide from Microsoft and it works: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/getting-started-with-aspnet-web-api/tutorial-your-first-web-api?fbclid=IwAR0tEMDMX3URn2YO0pwnTTAbY2RuGkdu-HUobznac4Lwus6rOVPSeiX-lFs

Now I want to be able to get data from my XML file instead of the hardcoded values the guide use. I have tried to search for this already but not sure I find the right thing. How can I do this?

Code I have tried:

    public IEnumerable<Book> GetAllProducts()
    {

    XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("C:\\Users\\Name\\Desktop\\products.xml");

    foreach (XElement element in doc.Descendants("Catalog")

        .Descendants("Product"))

    {

        Product product = new Product();

        product.Id = element.Element("Id").Value;
        product.Name = element.Element("Name").Value;
        product.Category = element.Element("Category").Value;
        product.Added_Date = element.Element("Added_Date").Value;//this will not work because its not a string
        product.Price = element.Element("Price").Value;//this will not work because its not a string

        products.Add(product);

        }

        return products;
    }

XML Code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<catalog>
   <product id="P1">
      <name>Royal Gala</name>
      <category>Apple</category>
      <country>New Zeeland</country>
      <price>33.00</price>
      <added_date>2011-01-11</added_date>
      <description>This is a lovely red apple.</description>
   </product>
   <product id="P2">
      <name>Granny Smith</name>
      <category>Apple</category>
      <country>Australia</country>
      <price>33.00</price>
      <added_date>2013-12-25</added_date>
      <description>This is a lovely green apple.</description>
   </product>
</catalog>

Oleksandr · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-18 20:23:09Z

0

You just need to parse string to a specific type

Product product = new Product();
//..
product.Added_Date = DateTime.Parse(element.Element("Added_Date").Value);
product.Price = double.Parse(element.Element("Price").Value); //or float, or decimal

And consider using Elements method instead of Descendants cause last one returns all children and their inner children and so on and Elements returns first level children

var productNodes = doc.Root.Elements("product"); //note this is case sensitive
foreach (XElement element in productNodes) {
    Product product = new Product();
    //..
}

edited Mar 18, 2019 at 20:23

answered Mar 18, 2019 at 20:09

Oleksandr

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11 Comments

Jacob Over a year ago

Thank you! However, this was a side problem. I cannot get it to work at all.

Jacob Over a year ago

It is working if I use this: Product[] products = new Product[] { new Product { Id = 1, Name = "Tomato Soup", Category = "Groceries", Price = 1 }... blabla }; If I use the code I had in my post it doesn't show anything and also says NullReferenceException.

Jacob Over a year ago

It still says the same as before: "An exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred"

Oleksandr Over a year ago

@Jacob on which line an exception does occur?

Jacob Over a year ago

book.Id = element.Element("Id").Value; and if I remove it it will be error on next row and countinuing

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