i have a small project for class where i need to read information in my XML file and put it in a hashtable.  the problem is, I've never done this before and don't have a clue where to start.  does anyone have a suggestion on how i can achieve this problem?

this is my sample XML file:

<books>
 <items type="horror">
    <page>100</page>
    <author>bob</author>
    <cost>50</cost>
 </items>

 <items type="comedy">
    <page>100</page>
    <author>bill</author>
    <cost>50</cost>
 </items>

 <items type="biography">
    <page>100</page>
    <author>bob</author>
    <cost>50</cost>
 </items>
</books>

why not load the xml into a dataset and use the datatable for processing rather than a hashtable

DataSet myDS = new DataSet();
myDS.ReadXml("input.xml", XmlReadMode.ReadSchema);

or

Dim myDataSet as New DataSet()    
myDataSet.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("books.xml"))

this should give you more control in the code.

Hi newbie_2007 ,

Have a look at my sample,

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
        doc.Load(Server.MapPath("XMLFile72.xml"));
        XmlNodeList lst = doc.SelectNodes("//items");

        Hashtable table = new Hashtable();

        for (int i = 0; i < lst.Count; i++)
        {
            Book book = new Book();
            book.type = lst[i].SelectSingleNode("@type").Value;
            book.author = lst[i].SelectSingleNode("author").InnerText;
            book.cost = lst[i].SelectSingleNode("cost").InnerText;

            table.Add(book.type, book);
        }
    }

public class Book
{
	
        public string type;
        public string page;
        public string author;
        public string cost;
	
}