XML Reader Performance

Question

I've traced slugishness in my application to the bit of code that's being timed below. I knew that this would be a slow point but each request is taking an average of 1 second. The bit of xml that I'm after is always in the first tag so I don't think it's the download times that are getting me.

Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader("http://steamcommunity.com/id/test?xml=1");

stopwatch.Reset();
stopwatch.Start();

while (reader.Read()) {
 if (reader.Name.Equals("steamID64")) {
  reader.Read();

  stopwatch.Stop();

  time = stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds();
  return Convert.ToInt64(reader.Value);
 }
}

Is there a faster way to read the tag that I want or am I being limited by the server I'm downloading the xml files from?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I think you are measuring the time it takes to create a connection. To confirm that, you could move the Reset+Start lines up to above the creation of the reader. I expect there will be little or no difference.

If it is the connect time, it is up to the network and there is noting you can do in your code. Maybe you can get some improvement from tweeking your network settings. But that's for another forum.

Answer 2

Try setting

reader.XmlResolver = null;

Answer 3

so I don't think it's the download times that are getting me

To confirm this have you considered downloading the file locally and then seeing what the times are like

Answer 4

I've compared your method with a different one. Simply download data and find the id by regular expression.

        System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch stopwatch = new System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch();
        stopwatch.Reset();
        stopwatch.Start();

        System.Net.WebClient wc = new System.Net.WebClient();
        string s = wc.DownloadString("http://steamcommunity.com/id/test?xml=1");
        System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex re = new Regex("\\<steamID64\\>(\\d+)\\</steamID64\\>");
        System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match m = re.Match(s);
        if (m != null && m.Captures.Count != 0) Response.Write("steamID64: " + m.Captures[0].Value + " <br/>");
        stopwatch.Stop();

        long time = stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds;
        Response.Write("Time Elapsed (1):" + time.ToString() +" <br/>");

        stopwatch.Reset();
        stopwatch.Start();

        System.Xml.XmlTextReader reader = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader("http://steamcommunity.com/id/test?xml=1");

        stopwatch.Reset();
        stopwatch.Start();

        while (reader.Read())
        {
            if (reader.Name.Equals("steamID64"))
            {
                reader.Read();
                stopwatch.Stop();

                time = stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds;
                s = reader.Value;
                break;
            }
        }

        Response.Write("<br/>steamID64: " + s );
        Response.Write("<br/>Time Elapsed (2):" + time.ToString() + " <br/>");

** Result:

steamID64: 76561197991558078 Time Elapsed (1):1572

steamID64: 76561197991558078 Time Elapsed (2):969

XmlReader is better :).