datagridview to xml and vice versa

I have 4 textboxes with which I am filling a DataGridView as follows:

Column1  Column2  Column3  Column4
TextBox1.Text  TextBox2.Text  TextBox3.Text  TextBox4.Text
etc...

When I send this out to XML, I get the following:

<root>
  <Column1 xmlns: TextBox1.Text>
  <Column2>TextBox2.Text</Column2>
  <Column3>TextBox3.Text</Column3>
  <Column4>TextBox4.Text</Column4>
  </Column1>
  .
  .
  .
</root>

This is the code I'm using to generate the XML file:

Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click
  Dim fn As New Date
  Dim tdyDate As Date = Date.Today()
  Dim setts As New XmlWriterSettings()
  setts.Indent = True
  setts.IndentChars = "  "
  Dim writer As XmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\" & tdyDate.ToString("MM'-'dd'-'yyyy") & ".xml", setts)
  writer.WriteStartDocument()
  writer.WriteStartElement("Meals")
  For dr As Integer = 0 To DGV.Rows.Count - 2
  writer.WriteStartAttribute(DGV.Columns(0).HeaderText.ToString, DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(0).Value.ToString)
  writer.WriteElementString("Quantity", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(1).Value.ToString)
  writer.WriteElementString("Description", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(2).Value.ToString)
  writer.WriteElementString("Calories", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(3).Value.ToString)
  writer.WriteEndElement()
  Next
  writer.WriteEndElement()
  writer.Flush()
  writer.Close()
  End Sub
 
Why am I getting the namespace attributes, instead of nodes named the same. In other words, why <Item xmlns: Name>, instead of just <Name>

I take it that 'Meals' is the root element.

I'd try:

Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click

  Dim fn As New Date

  Dim tdyDate As Date = Date.Today()

  Dim setts As New XmlWriterSettings()

  setts.Indent = True

  setts.IndentChars = "  "

  Dim writer As XmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\" & tdyDate.ToString("MM'-'dd'-'yyyy") & ".xml", setts)

  writer.WriteStartDocument()

  writer.WriteStartElement("Meals")

 

  For dr As Integer = 0 To DGV.Rows.Count - 2

  
     writer.WriteElementString(DGV.Columns(0).HeaderText.ToString, DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(0).Value.ToString)

     writer.WriteElementString("Quantity", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(1).Value.ToString)

     writer.WriteElementString("Description", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(2).Value.ToString)

     writer.WriteElementString("Calories", DGV.Rows(dr).Cells(3).Value.ToString)

  Next

  writer.WriteEndElement()

  writer.WriteEndDocument()

  writer.Flush()

  writer.Close()

End Sub

That is still putting the namespace tag on it. However, I think I've solved that part. I'll demonstrate my solution when I have the answer to the other part of the question, namely: how do I get it back into the Datagridview?

Is there a way to read an xml file into a datagrid without going through a dataset or datatable? I realize that this is probably the accepted procedure, but I already have a lot of working code that would end up in the round file(LOL) if I go that route. Someone must have tried this at some time in the past. This will allow me to finish a project I have been working on for over a month, which should have taken two weeks at best. Any help is appreciated.

To my knowledge, you can't load the contents of an XML directly into a DGV. However, you can load them into a List of objects (as opposed to a DataSet or DataTable) and then bind the DGV to the List.

Here's an example which worked OK when I tried it just now.

The xml file, duane.xml, looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Meals>
  <Meal>
     <Quantity>quantity</Quantity>
     <Description>desc</Description>
     <Calories>calories</Calories>
  </Meal>
  <Meal>
     <Quantity>quantity2</Quantity>
     <Description>desc2</Description>
     <Calories>calories2</Calories>
  </Meal>
</Meals>

The code to load that into a DGV using LINQ to XML is as follows:

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        Dim doc As XDocument = XDocument.Load("duane.xml")
        Dim query = (From meal In doc.Descendants("Meals").Elements("Meal") Select
            Quantity = CStr(meal.Element("Quantity")),
            Description = CStr(meal.Element("Description")),
            Calories = CStr(meal.Element("Calories"))).ToList()
        DataGridView1.DataSource = query

    End Sub