C #: WPF datagrid and xml file

There are several ways to load a DataGrid using XML (there are others):

• Using XmlDataProvider
• Reading XML from code

Here is a very rough sample, in which both methods are used.

Xaml

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MyDataGrid"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MyDataGrid" Height="300" Width="300">
    <Window.Resources>

        <XmlDataProvider x:Key="BookData" 
            Source="C:\Somewhere\Books.xml" XPath="Data"/>

    </Window.Resources>
    <StackPanel>
        <DataGrid 
            ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Elements[Book]}"
            AutoGenerateColumns="False" Height="Auto" 
            Name="dataGrid1" 
            VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">

            <DataGrid.Columns>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Author" 
                    Binding="{Binding Path=Element[Author].Value}"/>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Title" 
                    Binding="{Binding Path=Element[Title].Value}"/>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Version" 
                    Binding="{Binding Path=Element[Version].Value}" />
            </DataGrid.Columns>

        </DataGrid>


        <DataGrid 
            DataContext="{StaticResource BookData}" 
            ItemsSource="{Binding XPath=Book}"
            AutoGenerateColumns="False" Height="Auto" 
            Name="dataGrid2" Margin="0,25,0,0" 
            VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">

            <DataGrid.Columns>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Author" 
                    Binding="{Binding XPath=Author}"/>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Title" 
                    Binding="{Binding XPath=Title}"/>
                <DataGridTextColumn 
                    Header="Version" 
                    Binding="{Binding XPath=Version}" />
            </DataGrid.Columns>

        </DataGrid>

    </StackPanel>
</Window>

Code for

using System.Windows;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace WpfApplication1
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for MyDataGrid.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MyDataGrid : Window
    {
        public MyDataGrid()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            var xml = XDocument.Load( "c:\\Somewhere\\Books.xml" ).Root;
            dataGrid1.DataContext = xml;
        }

    }
}

For reference

Finally, here are a few articles:

• The Binding.XPath Property on MSDN
• Customize data mapping with data binding and WPF> Using XML data
• Sample DataGrid Using XML Data