Below is an XML that was generated from a Dataset

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
 <PC>
    <ID>8</ID>
    <location>Qatar</location>
    <assembled>No</assembled>
    <brand>IBM THINKPAD T43</brand>
    <processor>Centrino 1.8 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>512 MB</memory>
    <hdd>80 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>4/28/2005</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>User 7</username>
    <entry_no>1</entry_no>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>199</ID>
    <location>Fujairah</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>HP 6720S</brand>
    <processor>2 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>1 GB</memory>
    <hdd>120 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>2008</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>Ajay Lawrence</username>
    <entry_date>4/15/2008</entry_date>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>78</ID>
    <location>Dubai</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>Unitron-Abdulla</brand>
    <processor>P4 2.4Ghz</processor>
    <memory>256 MB</memory>
    <hdd>40 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>11/1/2002</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>DESKTOP</machine_type>
    <username>Abdulla</username>
  </PC>

I have used this an XML Datasource Control.

When adding the source to an  DropDownList Control it does not identify the fields

But instead if I use the below the XML File I got from a tutorial , it works fine

What could be wrong? Please help

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<People>
    <Person FirstName="Jake" LastName="Stone">
      <Address>
        <Street>345 Maple St.</Street>
        <City>Redmond</City>
        <Region>WA</Region>
        <ZipCode>01434</ZipCode>
      </Address>
      <Job>
        <Title>CEO</Title>
        <Description>Develops company strategies.</Description>
      </Job>
    </Person>
    <Person FirstName="Jacob" LastName="Ladder">
      <Address>
        <Street>123 Elm St.</Street>
        <City>Seattle</City>
        <Region>WA</Region>
        <ZipCode>11223</ZipCode>
      </Address>
      <Job>
        <Title>Attorney</Title>
        <Description>Reviews legal issues.</Description>
      </Job>
    </Person>
    <Person FirstName="Angela" LastName="Hound">
      <Address>
        <Street>34 Palm Avenue</Street>
        <City>Renton</City>
        <Region>WA</Region>
        <ZipCode>63910</ZipCode>
      </Address>
      <Job>
        <Title>IT Director</Title>
        <Description>In charge of corporate network.</Description>
      </Job>
    </Person>
</People>

Hi,

If you try to open that XML file in IE, you'll see that it will give you an error! That's because you don't have a root element;

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<root>
 <PC>
    <ID>8</ID>
    <location>Qatar</location>
    <assembled>No</assembled>
    <brand>IBM THINKPAD T43</brand>
    <processor>Centrino 1.8 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>512 MB</memory>
    <hdd>80 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>4/28/2005</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>User 7</username>
    <entry_no>1</entry_no>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>199</ID>
    <location>Fujairah</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>HP 6720S</brand>
    <processor>2 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>1 GB</memory>
    <hdd>120 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>2008</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>Ajay Lawrence</username>
    <entry_date>4/15/2008</entry_date>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>78</ID>
    <location>Dubai</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>Unitron-Abdulla</brand>
    <processor>P4 2.4Ghz</processor>
    <memory>256 MB</memory>
    <hdd>40 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>11/1/2002</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>DESKTOP</machine_type>
    <username>Abdulla</username>
  </PC>
</root>

this should work fine...
 

Sorry, this did not work. The dropdownlist that I created is still unable to locate the field names from the XML document.

Can you please paste the code? 

Hi sunhuman ,

First , add one root Element to your xml file.

And you can bind dropdownlist to one DataSet object instead of using XmlDataSource.

<PCS>
  <PC>
    <ID>8</ID>
    <location>Qatar</location>
    <assembled>No</assembled>
    <brand>IBM THINKPAD T43</brand>
    <processor>Centrino 1.8 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>512 MB</memory>
    <hdd>80 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>4/28/2005</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>User 7</username>
    <entry_no>1</entry_no>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>199</ID>
    <location>Fujairah</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>HP 6720S</brand>
    <processor>2 Ghz</processor>
    <memory>1 GB</memory>
    <hdd>120 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>2008</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>Laptop</machine_type>
    <username>Ajay Lawrence</username>
    <entry_date>4/15/2008</entry_date>
  </PC>
  <PC>
    <ID>78</ID>
    <location>Dubai</location>
    <assembled>Yes</assembled>
    <brand>Unitron-Abdulla</brand>
    <processor>P4 2.4Ghz</processor>
    <memory>256 MB</memory>
    <hdd>40 GB</hdd>
    <os>Windows XP Professional</os>
    <purchase_date>11/1/2002</purchase_date>
    <machine_type>DESKTOP</machine_type>
    <username>Abdulla</username>
  </PC>
</PCS>

        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
        ds.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("XMLFile33.xml"));
        this.DropDownList1.DataSource = ds;
        DropDownList1.DataTextField = "location";
        DropDownList1.DataValueField = "ID";
        DropDownList1.DataBind();