Update a xml doc using windows forms and C# HELP!

[BJ Allmon]

I'm new to the .NET community. My name is BJ and I've been
developing web applications for years now. I'm very new
to .NET and could use some assistance. I don't think I'm
asking for very much here. This should be very common but
I haven't been able to find any concrete examples.
I'm creating a Windows Forms client/server application.
It's for sales staff and the client piece needs to store
to xml (preferrably). I know that windows programming
lends itself to this type of functionality but I have to
say I'm at a loss when it comes to finding out how to make
it work right.
I have a customer form page in the app that the user can
fill out. When the user clicks the save button I use an
event driven method that will write the form data to xml.
In the form of:
<Contacts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts>
The problem is everytime I use the form it just appends
the same format to my xml document like so:
<Contacts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts><Conta cts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts>
This makes it unreadable.
QUESTION: How do I make the child elements append inside
the root "Contacts"?
Here's my current code that causes the problem.

//Code snippet starts here.....
System.Xml.XmlD ocument salesText = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement newContacts =
salesText.Creat eElement("Conta cts");
XmlElement newContact =
salesText.Creat eElement("Conta ct");
salesText.Appen dChild(newConta cts);
newContacts.App endChild
(newContact);
//Create a new XmlAttribute
XmlAttribute idAttribute =
salesText.Creat eAttribute("Cli ent");
idAttribute.Val ue =
this.textBox1.T ext;
//Set the Attribute on the
XmlElement
newContact.SetA ttributeNode
(idAttribute);
//Date Attribute
XmlAttribute dateAttribute =
salesText.Creat eAttribute("Dat e");
dateAttribute.V alue =
this.textBox2.T ext;
newContact.SetA ttributeNode
(dateAttribute) ;

//Insert the newly created
XmlElement into the XmlDocument
salesText.Inser tAfter
(newContacts,sa lesText.LastChi ld);

//Create a FileStream and Save the
Document
FileStream docOut =
new FileStream
(docPath,FileMo de.Append,FileA ccess.Write,Fil eShare.ReadWri
te);
salesText.Save( docOut);
//code snippet ends here.

Any help much appreciated...

[Nick Malik]

In your code snippet, you are using FileMode.Append . This is what is
causing your output file to become invalid XML.

FileStream docOut = new FileStream(docP ath,FileMode.Ap pend,FileAccess .Write,FileShar e.ReadWrite); salesText.Save( docOut);
Change the first line above to FileMode.Create or FileMode.Write

HTH,
--- Nick

"BJ Allmon" <an*******@disc ussions.microso ft.com> wrote in message
news:15******** *************** *****@phx.gbl.. . I'm new to the .NET community. My name is BJ and I've been
developing web applications for years now. I'm very new
to .NET and could use some assistance. I don't think I'm
asking for very much here. This should be very common but
I haven't been able to find any concrete examples.
I'm creating a Windows Forms client/server application.
It's for sales staff and the client piece needs to store
to xml (preferrably). I know that windows programming
lends itself to this type of functionality but I have to
say I'm at a loss when it comes to finding out how to make
it work right.
I have a customer form page in the app that the user can
fill out. When the user clicks the save button I use an
event driven method that will write the form data to xml.
In the form of:
<Contacts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts>
The problem is everytime I use the form it just appends
the same format to my xml document like so:
<Contacts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts><Conta cts>
<contact name="clientNam e" date="mm/dd/yyyy" />
</Contacts>
This makes it unreadable.
QUESTION: How do I make the child elements append inside
the root "Contacts"?
Here's my current code that causes the problem.

//Code snippet starts here.....
System.Xml.XmlD ocument salesText = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement newContacts =
salesText.Creat eElement("Conta cts");
XmlElement newContact =
salesText.Creat eElement("Conta ct");
salesText.Appen dChild(newConta cts);
newContacts.App endChild
(newContact);
//Create a new XmlAttribute
XmlAttribute idAttribute =
salesText.Creat eAttribute("Cli ent");
idAttribute.Val ue =
this.textBox1.T ext;
//Set the Attribute on the
XmlElement
newContact.SetA ttributeNode
(idAttribute);
//Date Attribute
XmlAttribute dateAttribute =
salesText.Creat eAttribute("Dat e");
dateAttribute.V alue =
this.textBox2.T ext;
newContact.SetA ttributeNode
(dateAttribute) ;

//Insert the newly created
XmlElement into the XmlDocument
salesText.Inser tAfter
(newContacts,sa lesText.LastChi ld);

//Create a FileStream and Save the
Document
FileStream docOut =
new FileStream
(docPath,FileMo de.Append,FileA ccess.Write,Fil eShare.ReadWri
te);
salesText.Save( docOut);
//code snippet ends here.

Any help much appreciated...