HTML Table to ASP.NET Table

To convert an HTML table (from a string) to an ASP.NET table:

Start with an HTML table:

<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<fieldset title="Policy Information">
<legend><b>Policy Information</b></legend>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td width="140">Policy Number:</td>
<td width="150">$$Policy Number$$</td>
</tr>
</table>
</fieldset>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Create a Helper class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Xml;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Drawing;</pre>
namespace Whatever
 {
 public static class TableHelper
 {
 public static Table m_table = new Table();

public static Table CreateASPTableFromXML(XmlNode node)
 {
 Table table;
 /// fetch the root table node, this will iteratively fetch the rest.
 table = GetTableFromNode(node);

return table;
 }

static Table GetTableFromNode(XmlNode node)
 {
 Table table = new Table();
 table.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Solid;
 table.BorderColor = Color.Black;
 table.BorderWidth = Unit.Pixel(1);

/// create the table
 if (node.Name.ToLower() != "table")
 {
 throw new Exception(string.Format("'table' element expected, {0} found.", node.Name));
 }

/// apply the attributes
 ApplyAttributesToControl

(node.Attributes, ref table);// From this table element find all the child rows
 foreach (XmlNode rowNode in node.ChildNodes)
 {
 table.Rows.Add(GetRowFromNode(rowNode));
 }

//TableRow row = new TableRow();
 //TableCell cell = new TableCell() { Text = "here" };
 //row.Cells.Add(cell);

//table.Rows.Add(row);

return table;
 }

static TableRow GetRowFromNode(XmlNode node)
 {
 /// create the tableRow
 TableRow tableRow = new TableRow();

if (node.Name.ToLower() != "tr")
 {
 throw new Exception(string.Format("'tr' element expected, {0} found.", node.Name));
 }

/// apply the attributes
 ApplyAttributesToControl(node.Attributes, ref tableRow);

// From this table row element find all the child cells
 foreach (XmlNode cellNode in node.ChildNodes)
 {
 tableRow.Cells.Add(GetCellFromNode(cellNode));
 }

return tableRow;

}

/// Process each cell and look for content.
 static TableCell GetCellFromNode(XmlNode node)
 {
 /// create the tableRow
 TableCell tableCell = new TableCell();

if (node.Name.ToLower() != "td")
 {
 throw new Exception(string.Format("'td' element expected, {0} found.", node.Name));
 }

/// apply the attributes
 ApplyAttributesToControl(node.Attributes, ref tableCell);

/// From this table row element find all the child objects
 /// these might be tables, text or html objects
 if (node.HasChildNodes)
 {

foreach (XmlNode childNode in node.ChildNodes)
 {
 /// this might be an HTML object or another table... or both... (gulp)
 if (childNode.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
 {
 if (childNode.Name.ToLower() == "table")
 {
 tableCell.Controls.Add(GetTableFromNode(childNode));
 }

if (childNode.Name.ToLower() == "fieldset")
 {
 tableCell.Controls.Add(GetPanelFromNode(childNode));
 }
 }
 else if (childNode.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text)
 {
 tableCell.Text = childNode.InnerText;
 }
 }
 }

return tableCell;

}

/// Process each cell and look for content.
 static Panel GetPanelFromNode(XmlNode node)
 {
 /// create the tableRow
 Panel panel = new Panel();

if (node.Name.ToLower() != "fieldset")
 {
 throw new Exception(string.Format("'fieldset' element expected, {0} found.", node.Name));
 }

/// apply the attributes
 ApplyAttributesToControl(node.Attributes, ref panel);

/// From this panel element find all the child objects
 /// one of which will be a legend tag
 /// then it might be HTML elements, tables or text
 if (node.HasChildNodes)
 {
 /// the legend node will be applied as a panel GroupingText property

foreach (XmlNode childNode in node.ChildNodes)
 {
 /// this might be an HTML object or another table... or both... (gulp)
 if (childNode.Name.ToLower() == "legend")
 {
 panel.GroupingText = childNode.InnerText;
 }

if (childNode.Name.ToLower() == "table")
 {
 panel.Controls.Add(GetTableFromNode(childNode));
 }
 }
 }
 else if (node.InnerText != string.Empty)
 {
 panel.Controls.Add(new Literal() { Text = node.InnerXml});
 }

return panel;

}

///

 /// Add attributes to any web control
 ///

/// Reference to the control to which the attributes are being added
 /// The attributes being added
 static void ApplyAttributesToControl( XmlAttributeCollection attribs, ref T ctrl)
 where T : WebControl
 {
 foreach (XmlAttribute attrib in attribs)
 {
 ctrl.Attributes.Add(attrib.Name, attrib.Value);
 }
 }

}
 }

Open the HTML file, and pass the root node to the helper class:

Table table;

/// check if a template exists for this request form...
 /// TODO: Update this to use the request form name, not the ID.
 string TemplatePath = Server.MapPath(string.Format("~/Private/RequestFormTemplates/{0}.xml", _selectedRequestId));
 if (File.Exists(TemplatePath))
 {
 System.IO.StreamReader myFile = new System.IO.StreamReader(TemplatePath);
 string myString = myFile.ReadToEnd();
 myFile.Close();
 myFile.Dispose();

FileStream fs = new FileStream(TemplatePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite);
 XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
 xmldoc.Load(fs);

table = TableHelper.CreateASPTableFromXML(xmldoc.DocumentElement);

}

The helper class needs to be fleshed out some more, to provide support for other elements and valid HTML, but it’s almost there.

If there is an easier way, let me know!