WebException when instantiating XPathDocument

I am experiencing a strange problem. In my page I do the following:

public string Transform(string xmlfile, string xsltfile)
{
if (xmlfile != null && xsltfile != null)
{
XPathDocument xpathdoc = new XPathDocument(xmlfile);
:
}
}

other code has been left out. I always get a "WebException was unhandled by
user code" and the message of the web exception is "The remote server
returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable."

I am not retrieving the file (XSL or XML) from any remote server, in fact
the file is local. When I debug I see the exception is thrown during the
instantiation of XPathDocument where the xmlfile parameter value is
"D:\Websites\MySite\backend\xmlsource.htm" (I changed the name for the
purpose of this post).

The path and file in the value of the variable DOES exist. So why am I
getting a WebException? The file is simply an HTML snippet (not a whole HTML
document) without any weird or foreign characters (only ASCII characters).

Any ideas what is wrong there?

.NETed

A correction, the xmlfile points to a full HTML source file with DOCTYPE and
HTML root element. I have not come up with a solution yet.

The XSL document that transforms the HTML file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE xsl:stylesheet [
<!ENTITY nbsp " ">
<!ENTITY lquot "«">
<!ENTITY rquot "»">
<!ENTITY ntilde "ñ">
]>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlnssl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/html/body">
<xsl:apply-templates />

</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="@*|node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>


".NETed" <> wrote in message
news:%23m%...
>I am experiencing a strange problem. In my page I do the following:
>
> public string Transform(string xmlfile, string xsltfile)
> {
> if (xmlfile != null && xsltfile != null)
> {
> XPathDocument xpathdoc = new XPathDocument(xmlfile);
> :
> }
> }
>
> other code has been left out. I always get a "WebException was unhandled
> by user code" and the message of the web exception is "The remote server
> returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable."
>
> I am not retrieving the file (XSL or XML) from any remote server, in fact
> the file is local. When I debug I see the exception is thrown during the
> instantiation of XPathDocument where the xmlfile parameter value is
> "D:\Websites\MySite\backend\xmlsource.htm" (I changed the name for the
> purpose of this post).
>
> The path and file in the value of the variable DOES exist. So why am I
> getting a WebException? The file is simply an HTML snippet (not a whole
> HTML document) without any weird or foreign characters (only ASCII
> characters).
>
> Any ideas what is wrong there?
>
>

.NETed

".NETed" <> wrote in
news:#m#:

> I am not retrieving the file (XSL or XML) from any remote server, in
> fact the file is local. When I debug I see the exception is thrown
> during the instantiation of XPathDocument where the xmlfile parameter
> value is "D:\Websites\MySite\backend\xmlsource.htm" (I changed the
> name for the purpose of this post).

Try loading the doc as an XML document first and make sure you are not
having a problem resolving the path.

The only other thing I can think of is the absolute drive path is
causing issues. In general, the linked XML files I have used have been
URLs, not drive paths. This is true of schemas, docs, etc. Not sure it
should or would make a difference, but if the doc can resolve as a doc,
then it is the link that is the problem.

Peace and Grace,
Greg

--
Vote for Miranda's Christmas Story
http://tinyurl.com/mirandabelieve

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************

Gregory A. Beamer

in general html is not valid xml and will throw errors when loaded as
xml. you can run you html file through a validator:

http://validator.w3.org/

-- bruce (sqlwork.com)

..NETed wrote:
> A correction, the xmlfile points to a full HTML source file with DOCTYPE and
> HTML root element. I have not come up with a solution yet.
>
> The XSL document that transforms the HTML file looks like this:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> <!DOCTYPE xsl:stylesheet [
> <!ENTITY nbsp " ">
> <!ENTITY lquot "«">
> <!ENTITY rquot "»">
> <!ENTITY ntilde "ñ">
> ]>
> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
> xmlnssl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
> <xsl:template match="/html/body">
> <xsl:apply-templates />
>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="@*|node()">
> <xsl:copy>
> <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
> </xsl:copy>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
>
> ".NETed" <> wrote in message
> news:%23m%...
>> I am experiencing a strange problem. In my page I do the following:
>>
>> public string Transform(string xmlfile, string xsltfile)
>> {
>> if (xmlfile != null && xsltfile != null)
>> {
>> XPathDocument xpathdoc = new XPathDocument(xmlfile);
>> :
>> }
>> }
>>
>> other code has been left out. I always get a "WebException was unhandled
>> by user code" and the message of the web exception is "The remote server
>> returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable."
>>
>> I am not retrieving the file (XSL or XML) from any remote server, in fact
>> the file is local. When I debug I see the exception is thrown during the
>> instantiation of XPathDocument where the xmlfile parameter value is
>> "D:\Websites\MySite\backend\xmlsource.htm" (I changed the name for the
>> purpose of this post).
>>
>> The path and file in the value of the variable DOES exist. So why am I
>> getting a WebException? The file is simply an HTML snippet (not a whole
>> HTML document) without any weird or foreign characters (only ASCII
>> characters).
>>
>> Any ideas what is wrong there?
>>
>>
>
>

bruce barker