This tutorial instructs how to create a simple Guestbook using an XML file for storage of comments. C# version.
User interaction on a website is becoming more and more common; allowing users to add comments on a website is one of many features we can implement to increase interactivity on a site. Such interactivity as a guestbook can use either XML or a database as a storage medium for comments. In this tutorial, we will show how we can use an XML file to store guestbook entries, and add new ones to it.
Firstly, we will need the following assembly reference:
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We add a small form to allow new entries, and also a DataList to display existing entries
The ASPX page will look something like this:
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<table>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100px">
Name:</td> <td style="width: 100px"> <asp:TextBox ID="txtName" runat="server"></asp:TextBox></td>
</tr> <tr>
<td style="width: 100px">
Location:</td> <td style="width: 100px">
<asp:TextBox ID="txtLocation" runat="server"></asp:TextBox></td> </tr> <tr>
<td style="width: 100px">
Email:</td> <td style="width: 100px">
<asp:TextBox ID="txtEmail" runat="server"></asp:TextBox></td> </tr> <tr>
<td style="width: 100px">
Comments:</td> <td style="width: 100px">
<asp:TextBox ID="txtComments" runat="server"></asp:TextBox></td> </tr> <tr>
<td colspan="2">
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" OnClick="Button1_Click" Text="Submit" /></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <asp:DataList ID="Guestbook" Runat="server" Width="100%">
<ItemTemplate> <hr size=0/> Name: <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "name") %><br /> E-mail: <a href="mailto:<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "email") %>"><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "email") %></a><br /> Location: <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "location") %><br /> Date: <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "date") %><br /> <i><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "entry_Text") %></i> </ItemTemplate> </asp:DataList> |
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Our XML document will look something like this, with the first guestbook entry:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<guestbook>
<entry name="Fred Bloggs" email="tutorials@aspnettutorials.com" location="Florida" date="04/29/2008 4:30:30 PM">This is the first entry !</entry> </guestbook> |
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The code-behind will look something like this:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Xml;
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
BindData(); } protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
// Open the XML doc
System.Xml.XmlDocument myXmlDocument = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();
myXmlDocument.Load(Server.MapPath("guestbook.xml"));
System.Xml.XmlNode myXmlNode = myXmlDocument.DocumentElement.FirstChild;
// Create new XML element and populate its attributes
System.Xml.XmlElement myXmlElement = myXmlDocument.CreateElement("entry");
myXmlElement.SetAttribute("name", Server.HtmlEncode(txtName.Text));
myXmlElement.SetAttribute("email", Server.HtmlEncode(txtEmail.Text));
myXmlElement.SetAttribute("location", Server.HtmlEncode(txtLocation.Text));
myXmlElement.SetAttribute("date", DateTime.Now.ToString());
myXmlElement.InnerText = Server.HtmlEncode(txtComments.Text);
// Insert data into the XML doc and save
myXmlDocument.DocumentElement.InsertBefore(myXmlElement, myXmlNode);
myXmlDocument.Save(Server.MapPath("guestbook.xml"));
// Re-bind data since the doc has been added to
BindData(); } void BindData() {
XmlTextReader myXmlReader = new XmlTextReader(Server.MapPath("guestbook.xml"));
DataSet myDataSet = new DataSet();
myDataSet.ReadXml(myXmlReader);
myXmlReader.Close();
Guestbook.DataSource = myDataSet.Tables[0];
Guestbook.DataBind(); } |
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