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Loading Items from XML

One of the ways to specify the items in a RadListBox control is using XML. The format of the XML must follow a structure similar to the section of an inline RadListBox declaration. That is, it must have:

  • A single root with the tag:
<Items></Items> 
  • A number of child nodes with the tag:
<Items>
    <Item Text="Africa" Value="1" />
    <Item Text="Australia" Value="2" />
    <Item Text="Asia" Value="3" />
    <Item Text="Europe" Value="4" />
    <Item Text="North America" Value="5" />
    <Item Text="South America" Value="6" />
</Items> 
  • All item properties can be mapped on the respective XML nodes as attributes. In addition, you can use any custom attributes that are not available as properties:
<Items>
    <Item Text="Africa" Value="1" Enabled="True" />
    <Item Text="Australia" Value="2" Select="False" />
    <Item Text="Asia" Value="3" CustomAttribute="CustomData" />
</Items>

You can populate RadListBox from an XML using one of the following methods:

  • From a static XML file, using the LoadContentFile method.

  • From a string of XML, using the LoadXml method.

Loading items from an XML file

Create an XML file with content that complies with the rules described above and call the LoadContentFile method, passing in the path to the file:

RadListBox1.LoadContentFile("ListBox.xml");
RadListBox1.LoadContentFile("ListBox.xml") 

Loading items from an XML string

Create a string with valid XML content (or fetch it from a database, for example) and use the LoadXml method to populate the ListBox from the string:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("<Items>");
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Africa' />");
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Australia' />");
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Asia' />");
sb.Append("</Items>");
string xmlString = sb.ToString();
RadListBox2.LoadXml(xmlString);
Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
sb.Append("<Items>")
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Africa' />")
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Australia' />")
sb.Append(" <Item Text='Asia' />")
sb.Append("</Items>")
Dim xmlString As String = sb.ToString()
RadListBox2.LoadXml(xmlString) 

See Also

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