I have this program that creates a XML file to the disk drive.  I then pick up the file and I send it to a web service that gives me a response, which is a xml file in memory and I write the response as a XML file to the disk drive.

There is no need for me to keep the XML Files on the drive, and I'd rather create the file in memory, and pass it to the server.

This is what I want to do

 XmlRequest = CreateXML()   'Create XML File in memory

XmlResponse = TransmitXML(XML)    'Transit the Xml Memory file , and then take the XML Response

ParseXML(XmlResponse) 

Any Quick Tips would really help out

Thanks in advance 

Private Function CreateXML() As Boolean

		Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

		Dim strPath As String
		Dim objWriter As XmlTextWriter					'create an instance of the XmlTextWriter object

		Try
			' location to the XML file to write
			strPath = Context.Server.MapPath("ECommerce.xml")

			objWriter = New XmlTextWriter(strPath, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)
			objWriter.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
			objWriter.WriteStartDocument()
			'objWriter.WriteComment("Write the XML File Version 1.0")

			'Write the Main Element RequestData
			objWriter.WriteStartElement("RequestData")
			objWriter.WriteAttributeString("action", "Request")
			objWriter.WriteAttributeString("version", "1.1")

			'Write the Requestor Element
			objWriter.WriteStartElement("Requestor")
			objWriter.WriteElementString("ID", Requestor_ID)
			objWriter.WriteElementString("Password", Requestor_Password)
			objWriter.WriteEndElement()

			'#################################################################################################################
			'Shipment
			objWriter.WriteStartElement("Shipment")
			objWriter.WriteAttributeString("action", "RateEstimate")
			objWriter.WriteAttributeString("version", "1.0")

			'Shipment/ShippingCredentials
			objWriter.WriteStartElement("ShippingCredentials")
			objWriter.WriteElementString("ShippingKey", Shipment_ShippingCredentials_ShippingKey)
			objWriter.WriteElementString("AccountNbr", Shipment_ShippingCredentials_AccountNbr)
			objWriter.WriteEndElement()

			'Shipment/ShipmentDetail
			objWriter.WriteStartElement("ShipmentDetail")
			objWriter.WriteElementString("ShipDate", ShipmentDetail_ShipDate)

			'End of Shipment Element
			objWriter.WriteEndElement()
			'########################################################################################################

			'End of Request Element
			objWriter.WriteEndElement()

			objWriter.Flush()
			objWriter.Close()
			Return True

		Catch ex As Exception
			Context.Response.Write("Create XML Error" & ex.Message & "< br />")

		End Try

		objWriter = Nothing


	End Function

 
Private Sub TransmitXML(ByVal XML As MemoryStream)

		Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

		Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(Context.Server.MapPath("ECommerce.xml"))
		Dim sw As StreamWriter

		Dim XMLRead As String = sr.ReadToEnd
		Dim stXML As String
		stXML = XMLRead
		sr.Close()

		Try
			Dim results As String
			Dim request As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create("https://www.request.com/request.asp")
			request.Method = "POST"
			request.ContentType = "text/xml; charset=utf-8"
			results = WriteToURL(request, stXML)

			Dim Response As String
			Response = RetrieveFromURL(request)

			sw = File.CreateText(Context.Server.MapPath("ECommerceReply.xml"))
			'sw.WriteLine(Response)
			sw.Write(Response)
			sw.Flush()
			sw.Close()

			sw = Nothing
			sr = Nothing

		Catch ex As Exception
			Context.Response.Write("Error Message from DHL:" & ex.Message & "<br />")
			Exit Sub
		End Try

	End Sub
  

Dim writer as New StringWriter()
Dim objWriter As New XmlTextWriter( writer )

..... 

Return writer.ToString()

The response part seems to be OK already. Just return the string variable "Response", and skip the file creation part. 

  I finally figured out how to make this work up to the Italics. I can create my xml file info, 
hold it memory and pass it to the TransmitRateRequestStream(XMLRequest) and get back 
a qualified anwser.

But in TransmitRateRequestStream(), I get a response back called Response which is a string.
  
I want to take that Response, and pass it to ParseXML in the same format I submitted to
TransmitRateRequestStream(XMLRequest), so I can parse it as a legit XML File.

Any Ideas?

Dim XMLRequest As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
XMLRequest = CreateXML()

Dim XMLResponse As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
XMLResponse = TransmitRateRequestStream(XMLRequest)

Dim RateInfo(99) As String
RateInfo = ParseXML(XMLResponse)
 

Private Function TransmitRateRequestStream(ByVal XMLRequest As IO.MemoryStream) As IO.MemoryStream

		Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

		'Read and process the XMLRequest Stream
		Dim XMLResponse As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
		XMLRequest.Position = 0
		Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(XMLRequest)

		Dim XMLRead As String = sr.ReadToEnd
		Dim stXML As String
		stXML = XMLRead
		sr.Close()

		Try
			Dim results As String
			Dim request As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create("https://ecommerce.url/Test.asp")
			request.Method = "POST"
			request.ContentType = "text/xml; charset=utf-8"
			results = WriteToURL(request, stXML)

			Dim Response As String
			Response = RetrieveFromURL(request)
			
			

		Catch ex As Exception
			Context.Response.Write("Error Message from DHL:" & ex.Message & "<br />")

		End Try

		Return Writer

	End Function
	Private Function WriteToURL(ByVal Request As WebRequest, ByVal data As String) As String

		Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

		Try
			Dim bytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data)
			Request.ContentLength = bytes.Length

			Dim OutPutStream As Stream = Request.GetRequestStream
			OutPutStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.length)
			OutPutStream.Close()

		Catch ex As Exception
			Context.Response.Write("Write to URL Error:" & ex.Message & "< br />")

		End Try

		Return Nothing

	End Function
	Private Function RetrieveFromURL(ByVal Request As WebRequest) As String

		Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

		Try
			Dim response As WebResponse = Request.GetResponse
			Dim stream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream
			Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(stream)
			Return sr.ReadToEnd

		Catch ex As Exception
			Context.Response.Write("Received Error From URL" & ex.Message & "< br />")

		End Try

		Return Nothing

	End Function

I finally figured this out through process of elimination and hard work.   These are the functions that I called, and passed the xml memory files from.

Public Function GetRate()  As Array

	Dim XMLRequest As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
	XMLRequest = CreateXML()

	Dim XMLResponse As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
	XMLResponse = TransmitRateRequestStream(XMLRequest)

	Dim RateInfo(99) As String
	RateInfo = ParseXMLResponse(XMLResponse)

End Function

 When I created the XML request, this is how I prepared the xml file object in CreateXML()

Private Function CreateXML() As IO.MemoryStream

Dim objWriter As XmlTextWriter
Dim writer As New IO.MemoryStream
objWriter = New XmlTextWriter(writer, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)


objWriter.WriteStartDocument()
'create yoru xml content
'Finish your content

objWriter.WriteEndElement()
objWriter.WriteEndDocument()

objWriter.Flush()
writer.Position = 0
Return writer '	'As IO.MemoryStream

End Function

Now we are in TransmitRateRequestStream()

Private Function TransmitRateRequestStream(ByVal XMLRequest As IO.MemoryStream) As IO.MemoryStream

Dim Context As HttpContext = HttpContext.Current

'Read and process the XMLRequest Stream
Dim XMLResponse As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing
XMLRequest.Position = 0

Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(XMLRequest)
		
Dim objWriter As XmlTextWriter
Dim writer As New IO.MemoryStream

Dim Response As String = Nothing

Dim XMLRead As String = sr.ReadToEnd
Dim stXML As String
stXML = XMLRead
sr.Close()

'Transmit your request to whatever server
'Receive back the response from the server

'This was the hardest part, I kept getting illegal character errors when I injected the response in write raw, until I made that utf8 endcoding. 

There was no need to filter or clean the response  of bad characters

'Create a new XML file or memory Stream
Dim utf8 As Encoding = New UTF8Encoding()
objWriter = New XmlTextWriter(writer, utf8)
objWriter.WriteRaw(Response)
objWriter.Flush()
writer.Position = 0
Return writer ' As IO.memoryStream

End Function