Applied XML Programming for Microsoft .NET

Dino Esposito is a well-known ASP.NET, AJAX, and Microsoft Silverlight expert who has written or co-written several popular books, including Microsoft ASP.NET and Ajax: Architecting Web Applications and Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 4. He is a regular contributor to MSDN Magazine and speaks at industry events such as DevConnections and Microsoft TechEd.

Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix PART I XML CORE CLASSES IN THE .NET FRAMEWORK 1 The .NET XML Parsing Model 3 XML in the .NET Framework 4 Related XML Standards 4 Core Classes for Parsing 7 XML and ADO.NET 8 Application Configuration 9 Interoperability 10 From MSXML to .NET Framework Classes 11 COM and .NET Framework XML Core Services 11 Using MSXML in the .NET Framework 12 The .NET Framework XML API 13 .NET Framework Readers and Writers 15 The Cursor-Like Approach 16 XML Readers 16 XML Writers 18 The XML Document Object API in .NET 19 XPath Expressions and XSLT 20 Further Reading 22 2 XML Readers 25 The Programming Interface of Readers 25 The XmlReader Class 27 Specialized Reader Classes 33 Parsing with the XmlTextReader Class 34 Accessing Nodes 35 Accessing Attributes 40 Handling XML Exceptions 44 Handling White Spaces 44 Resolving Entities 45 Resolving External References 46 Reading Large Streams 47 The NameTable Object 49 Designing a SAX Parser with .NET Tools 50 Parsing XML Fragments 52 Parsing Well-Formed XML Strings 53 Fragments and Parser Context 54 Writing a Custom XML Reader 56 Mapping Data Structures to XML Nodes 57 Mapping CSV Files to XML 58 Implementing a CSV-to-XML Reader 59 The CSV XML Reader in Action 69 Readers and XML Readers 72 Further Reading 74 3 XML Data Validation 75 The XmlValidatingReader Class 76 Supported Validation Types 76 The XmlValidatingReader Programming Interface 78 The XmlValidatingReader in Action 81 Under the Hood of the Validation Process 89 Incremental Parsing 90 A Cache for Schemas 92 Validating XML Fragments 95 Using DTDs 97 Developing a DTD Grammar 97 Validating Against a DTD 99 Usage and Trade-Offs for DTDs 100 Using XDR Schemas 101 Overview of XDR Schemas 102 Validating Against an XDR 104 Using the XML Schema API 106 What Is a Schema, Anyway? 107 Defining an XSD Schema 112 The .NET Schema Object Model 120 Validating Against an XSD Document 130 Further Reading 133 4 XML Writers 135 The XML Writer Programming Interface 136 The XmlWriter Base Class 138 The XmlTextWriter Class 144 Writing Well-Formed XML Text 147 Building an XML Document 148 Formatting Text 156 Supporting Namespaces 157 Writing Encoded Data 162 XML Validating Writers 168 Writing a Custom XML Writer 170 Implementing an ADO Recordset XML Writer 170 The XmlRecordsetWriter Programming Interface 171 Testing the XmlRecordsetWriter Class 176 Comparing Writers and XML Writers 178 A Read/Write XML Streaming Parser 179 Designing a Writer on Top of a Reader 180 Built-In Support for Read/Write Operations 180 Designing the XmlTextReadWriter Class 181 Testing the XmlTextReadWriter Class 185 A Full-Access CSV Editor 192 Further Reading 199 PART II XML DATA MANIPULATION 5 The XML .NET Document Object Model 203 The XML DOM Programming Interface 204 The XmlDocument Class 206 The XmlNode Base Class 213 Working with XML Documents 219 Loading XML Documents 219 Extracting XML DOM Subtrees 224 Updating Text and Markup 225 Selecting Nodes by Query 226 Creating XML Documents 228 Appending Nodes 229 Appending Attributes 232 Persisting Changes 233 Extending the XML DOM 234 Custom Node Classes 234 Building a Hot-Plugging XML DOM 235 Further Reading 244 6 XML Query Language and Navigation 245 What Is XPath, Anyway? 246 Context of XPath Queries 246 Location Paths 250 Links Between Documents 252 XPath in the XML DOM 253 The XML DOM Node Retrieval API 254 The Sample XPath Evaluator 256 The .NET XPath Navigation API 263 The XPathNavigator Class 265 XPath Navigators and XML Readers 266 The XPathNavigator Programming Interface 267 XPath Expressions in the .NET Framework 273 Sorting the Node-Set 277 XPath Data Stores 280 XPath Iterators 284 The XPathNodeIterator Class 285 Visiting the Selected Nodes 286 Further Reading 288 7 XML Data Transformation 291 What Is XSLT, Anyway? 292 XSLT Template Programming 293 XSLT Instructions 295 From XML to HTML 299 From Schema to Schema 303 The .NET Framework XSLT Processor 305 A Quick XSLT Transformer 306 The XslTransform Class 308 Under the Hood of the XSLT Processor 312 Applying Transformations 315 Design Considerations 317 Asynchronous Transformations 318 Output Formats 322 Passing and Retrieving Arguments 323 Practical Examples 326 Transforming DataSet Objects into Recordset Objects 326 The XML Web Server Control 332 XSLT Extension Objects 336 Processing Embedded Scripts 336 Passing Managed Objects to the Style Sheet 340 Further Reading 343 PART III XML AND DATA ACCESS 8 XML and Databases 347 Reading XML Data from Databases 348 XML Extensions to the SELECT Statement 350 Limitations of FOR XML 353 Client-Side XML Formatting 354 Creating XML Views 355 XML Data Readers 360 Reading from XML Queries 362 Under the Hood of ExecuteXmlReader 366 Reading from Text Fields 367 An XML Reader for Data Readers 368 Using XML with OLE DB Data Providers 371 A Disconnected XML Data Reader 372 The XmlDataDocument Class 372 Synchronizing with a DataSet Object 373 XML Data Fidelity 374 Writing XML Data to Databases 375 The OPENXML Rowset Provider 376 XML Bulk Loading 378 The Updategram Template 382 SQLXML Managed Classes 386 The SqlXmlCommand Class 387 The SqlXmlParameter Class 393 The SqlXmlAdapter Class 394 Further Reading 397 9 ADO.NET XML Data Serialization 399 Serializing DataSet Objects 400 The DataSet Object s Embedded API for XML 402 Writing Data as XML 403 Writing Schema Information 406 Customizing the XML Representation 411 Rendering Data Relations 413 Serializing Filtered Views 417 Serializing DataTable Objects 417 Inside the DataView Object 419 Binary Data Serialization 422 Ordinary .NET Framework Serialization 422 Custom Binary Serialization 424 Loading DataSet Objects from XML 428 Building DataSet Objects 428 Reading Schema Information 431 Inferring Schema Information 432 Loading from Custom Readers 436 Further Reading 442 10 Stateful Data Serialization 443 Overview of the DiffGram Format 444 The Current Data Instance 446 DiffGram Format Annotations 448 The Original Data Section 452 Tracking Pending Errors 455 The DiffGram Viewer Application 457 Persisting a DataSet Object to a DiffGram 459 Loading a DataSet Object from a DiffGram 460 Schema Information in the DiffGram 461 A Save-and-Resume Application 464 Setting Up the Application 464 Creating the Local Data Store 466 Reviewing and Rejecting Changes 467 Submitting Changes 469 Further Reading 473 PART IV APPLICATIONS INTEROPERABILITY 11 XML Serialization 477 The Object Serialization Process 477 The SOAP Formatter 478 From SOAP to XML Serialization 481 The XML Serializer 483 The Programming Interface 483 Serializing Objects to XML 487 Deserializing XML Data to Objects 496 Shaping the XML Output 499 XML Serialization Attributes 499 Overriding Attributes 503 Mapping SQL Server Data to Classes 506 Overriding the Class Name 507 Overriding Class Properties 508 Mixing Overrides and Events 509 Populating Collection Properties 510 Inside the XML Serializer 513 The Temporary Assembly 513 Serialization Writers and Readers 517 Further Reading 518 12 The .NET Remoting System 521 Interprocess Communications in the .NET Framework 521 .NET Remoting as a Better DCOM 522 What Is .NET Remoting? 525 Application Domains 526 Remotable Objects 528 Marshaling Objects by Value 529 Marshaling Objects by Reference 531 Building a Remote Service 534 Writing the Data Provider Class 535 Writing the Remote Service Component 540 Publishing the Remote Service Component 542 Server-Side Activation 545 Client-Side Activation 549 Choosing the Activation Mode That Fits 550 Memory Management 551 Calling a Remote Service 552 Configuring the Caller 552 Writing the Client Component 554 Further Reading 559 13 XML Web Services 561 The .NET Framework Infrastructure for Web Services 562 The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 563 IIS Support 564 The WebService Class 566 Building a .NET Web Service 568 Exposing Web Methods 568 Format of SOAP Messages for a Web Method 571 The Sales Report Web Service 574 Under the Hood of a Web Method Call 577 Building a .NET Framework Web Service Client 581 The Proxy Class 582 Invoking a Web Service Through Script 586 .NET Remoting vs. Web Services 589 Which Came First? 589 Web Service Issues 590 Further Reading 593 14 XML on the Client 595 XML Support in Internet Explorer 596 The Data Island () Tag 596 The Role of the MSXML Parser 597 Other Ways to Embed XML Data 600 Creating Data Islands in ASP.NET 603 Embedding .NET Framework Components in Internet Explorer 604 Building Windows Forms Controls for HTML Pages 605 A Data Display Custom Control 608 Putting It All Together 613 Serializing DataSet Objects to Data Islands 615 From MSXML Documents to .NET XML Documents 616 Further Reading 621 15 .NET Framework Application Configuration 623 Configuration Files 624 The XML Schema for Configuration Settings 624 Machine Configuration Files 626 Security Configuration Files 627 Application Configuration Files 628 Managing Configuration Settings 629 The ConfigurationSettings Class 631 The AppSettingsReader Class 637 Creating New Configuration Sections 638 Declaring a New Section 638 Types of Section Handlers 640 Under the Hood of Section Handlers 643 Customizing Attribute Names 645 Customizing the XML Schema for Your Data 646 Creating a DataSet Section Handler 647 Implementing the DataSet Section Handler 653 Further Reading 655 AFTERWORD 657 INDEX