All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save XML files using XmlWriter

published on: 3/28/2011 | Views: N/A | Tags: IsoStore

by WindowsPhoneGeek

This is the 6th article from the "All about WP7 Isolated Storage " series of short articles focused on real practical examples with source code rather than a plain theory. I am going to talk about how to read and save XML file into Isolated Storage using XmlWriter.

• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - intro to Isolated Storage
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Folders and Files
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Store data in IsolatedStorageSettings
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save Text files
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save XML files using XmlSerializer
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save XML files using XmlWriter
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save Images
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save Captured Image
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save Binary files
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - File manipulations
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Recommendations and Best Practices
• All about WP7 Isolated Storage - open source Databases and Helper libraries

To begin with lets first create a sample Windows Phone 7 application project. Next include the following namespaces in MainPage.xaml.cs (alternatively you can use the code in another page):

using System.Xml;
using System.IO.IsolatedStorage;
using System.IO;

Reading and saving XML files to the Isolated Storage is a common task for many WP7 applications. In my previous post I explained how to write/read XML files using XmlSerializer, you can take a look here for reference: All about WP7 Isolated Storage - Read and Save XML files using XmlSerializer. In this post we will focus on how to do this using  XmlWriter.

NOTE: When working with files always use Using statement because it provides a convenient syntax that ensures the correct use of IDisposable objects.

Save New XML File to Isolated Storage using XmlWriter

In this example at first we create a new People2.xml  XML file in the Isolated Storage and after that write data into it.

using (IsolatedStorageFile myIsolatedStorage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
    using (IsolatedStorageFileStream isoStream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream("People2.xml", FileMode.Create, myIsolatedStorage))
    {
        XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
        settings.Indent = true;
        using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(isoStream, settings))
        {

            writer.WriteStartElement("p", "person", "urn:person");
            writer.WriteStartElement("FirstName", "");
            writer.WriteString("Kate");
            writer.WriteEndElement();
            writer.WriteStartElement("LastName", "");
            writer.WriteString("Brown");
            writer.WriteEndElement();
            writer.WriteStartElement("Age", "");
            writer.WriteString("25");
            writer.WriteEndElement();
            // Ends the document
            writer.WriteEndDocument();
            // Write the XML to the file.
            writer.Flush();
        }
    }
}

Read XML File from Isolated Storage using StreamReader

In this example at first open an existing People2.xml XML file from the Isolated Storage and read its content. After that the content is visualized as a TextBlock Text.

try
{
    using (IsolatedStorageFile myIsolatedStorage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
    {
        IsolatedStorageFileStream isoFileStream = myIsolatedStorage.OpenFile("People2.xml", FileMode.Open);
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(isoFileStream))
        {
            this.tbx.Text = reader.ReadToEnd();
        }
    }
}
catch 
{ }

NOTE: When working with files always use Using statement because it provides a convenient syntax that ensures the correct use of IDisposable objects.

In this article I talked about reading and saving XML file into Isolated Storage using XmlWriter. Here is the full source code (including all  XmlWriter  and XmlSerializer examples from the previous post ):

Stay tuned with the rest of the posts. I hope that the article was helpful.

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