XML (eXtensible Markup Language), being a markup language used to store and transport data in a structured format, is widely used in the programming world. It is often required to view or share XML data in a proper format. There comes the need to render XML files as other document formats like PDF, JPG, PNG, or HTML. This article explains the basic way to view XML files using simple C# code.
XML File Viewer – .NET API
GroupDocs.Viewer for .NET, an API for document viewing that enables the conversion of various file formats such as XML into PDF, HTML, and image formats like JPG and PNG within the .NET application. As an example, I will be using C# to render an XML file into PDF format using this API.
You can download the DLLs or MSI installer from the downloads section or install the API in your .NET application via NuGet.
PM> Install-Package GroupDocs.Viewer
XML File Viewer using C#
The API allows rendering XML files to render as PDF, JPG, PNG, and HTML formats. Here, you will only see how to render it as a PDF. The following are the step to view XML files by rendering these to PDF.
- Load the XML file using the Viewer class.
- Utilize the PDF View Options to specify the desired output path and settings.
- Invoke the View() method with the set options to obtain the XML file in PDF output.
The following C# source code renders the XML file as PDF:
Get a Free API License
You can get a free temporary license to use the API without the evaluation limitations to build an online XML file viewer.
Conclusion
To sum up, you just learned the basics of how to view XML files within the .NET application using C#. Further, we will soon discuss how to render XML files as JPG, PNG, and HTML.
You can learn more about the API regarding building your own XML viewer from the below links.
Build Your Own XML Viewer .NET Application
Here are some important links that will help you in building your own XML viewer .NET application.
Features | Documentation | API Reference
Running Examples – Source Code | Forum | Release Notes