How do I parse an XML file into a ListBox

Question

I am trying to parse this xml file http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml into a ListBox in visual C#, I tried a lot of different methods none of them worked, this is the one that kind of works:

XElement element = XElement.Load("http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml");
foreach (XElement item in element.Elements("channel")) {
   listBox1.Items.Add(item.Value);
}

the only problem is, it loads the wrong object and if I set it to

XElement element = XElement.Load("http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml");
foreach (XElement item in element.Elements("item")) {
   listBox1.Items.Add(item.Value);
}

it loads nothing, what should i do?

The easiest is probably DataSet.ReadXml, then you can use different tables, like the item table as data source of your ListBox and title as display member. — Reza Aghaei
– Reza Aghaei, Commented Feb 21, 2022 at 17:51
@RezaAghaei so i do not seem to understand the documentation... can you give an example on how to use it? i am new to C# and its hard for me to figure out these by myself, thanks in advance — Elyas Rahimi
– Elyas Rahimi, Commented Feb 21, 2022 at 18:29

Reza Aghaei · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-21 18:59:51Z

1

You are almost there. You can use either of the following solutions:

Using Linq to XML

Use XElement.Load* to load the element, then use .Descendants("item") or .Elements("channel").Elements("item") to get the specific item element:

var items = XElement.Load("http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml")
    .Descendants("item") // OR Use: .Elements("channel").Elements("item")
    .Select(x => new
    {
        title = x.Element("title").Value,
        description = x.Element("description").Value,
        pubDate = x.Element("pubDate").Value,
        link = x.Element("link").Value,
        guid = x.Element("guid").Value,
    }).ToList();

listBox1.DataSource = items;
listBox1.DisplayMember = "title";
textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", items, "description");

Using Load a DataSet from XML

Use DataSet.ReadXml to load a data set, then you can use different tables, like the item table as data source of your ListBox and title as DisplayMember.:

var ds = new DataSet();
ds.ReadXml("http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml");
var items = ds.Tables["item"];
listBox1.DataSource = items;
listBox1.DisplayMember = "title";
textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", items, "description");

edited Feb 21, 2022 at 18:59

answered Feb 21, 2022 at 18:31

Reza Aghaei

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1 Comment

Elyas Rahimi Over a year ago

thanks again, i was trying to figure this out for days!

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