Displaying XML data in DataGridView using DataSource

Question

Hi - I have a form with a DataGridView and I want to load data from an XML file into the Grid using a DataSet. I create a DataSet, load the XML into the DataSet, then assign the DataSet to the DataSource property of the Grid:

private void formAccountHistory_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Load the DataSet that represents the offline version of the database.
    AccountHistoryDS = new DataSet("TicketAccountHistory");

    AccountHistoryDS.ReadXmlSchema("TicketsAccountHistory.xsd");
    AccountHistoryDS.ReadXml("TicketsAccountHistory.xml", XmlReadMode.Auto);
    AccountHistoryDS.Locale = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture;

    dataGridViewStatement.AutoGenerateColumns = false;
    dataGridViewStatement.DataSource = AccountHistoryDS;
    dataGridViewStatement.DataMember = "Line";
}

However the data doesn't display in the Grid. I have 8 rows in the XML file and the Grid creates 8 rows alright but they are all blank. When I debug the code I can see the data in the DataSet so it seems to be loading it correctly to that point, just not displaying it in in the Grid. The XML file I use is below - it is well formed and validates against its schema:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<TicketsAccountHistory>
 <Line>
  <colID>03/09</colID>
  <colStartEnd>14/01/2009-20/01/2009</colStartEnd>
  <colDate>14/01/2009</colDate>
  <colType>Period 03/09 - opening balance</colType>
  <colDR></colDR>
  <colCR></colCR>
  <colBalance>0.00</colBalance>
 </Line>
 <Line>
  <colID>03/09</colID>
  <colStartEnd>14/01/2009-20/01/2009</colStartEnd>
  <colDate>20/01/2009</colDate>
  <colType>Sales Invoice (Ref: MRO-S-03/09)</colType>
  <colDR>1000</colDR>
  <colCR></colCR>
  <colBalance>1000.00</colBalance>
 </Line>
 <Line>
  <colID>03/09</colID>
  <colStartEnd>14/01/2009-20/01/2009</colStartEnd>
  <colDate>20/01/2009</colDate>
  <colType>Commission Invoice (Ref: MRO-C-03/09)</colType>
  <colDR></colDR>
  <colCR>100.00</colCR>
  <colBalance>900.00</colBalance>
 </Line>
 <!-- 5 more rows similar to this -->
</TicketsAccountHistory>

Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? I'm new to .NET 3.5 and the DataGridView and I don't know how what events are fired when a Grid is populated, if there should be code in any of those events, etc. Any help appreciated.

Cheers, Ciaran.

Answer 1

You've got the statement:

 dataGridViewStatement.AutoGenerateColumns = false;

This means that the DataGridView won't have any columns. Either set it to true or insert some code to add the columns.

Answer 2

After you manually generate the columns and have them named the same as your XML fields, try this:

    For Each col As DataGridViewColumn In dataGridViewStatement.Columns
        col.DataPropertyName = col.Name
    Next