Parsing Large XML Files with XmlDocument in C# - performance optimization and OutOfMemoryException
I'm relatively new to this, so bear with me. I'm stuck trying to I'm currently working on a C# application that needs to process a large XML file (over 500MB) using `XmlDocument`... However, I'm running into performance optimization and often get an `OutOfMemoryException` when trying to load the entire document. I've tried using the `XmlDocument.Load()` method, but it's not efficient for such large files. Here's the code snippet I initially used: ```csharp XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument(); try { xmlDoc.Load("path_to_large_file.xml"); } catch (OutOfMemoryException ex) { Console.WriteLine("behavior: " + ex.Message); } ``` I also experimented with `XmlReader` for a more forward-only approach, which seems better suited for large files. However, I'm struggling to iterate through the nodes properly. Here’s what I’ve tried: ```csharp using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("path_to_large_file.xml")) { while (reader.Read()) { if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element && reader.Name == "TargetElement") { // Process the element } } } ``` The second approach works, but I need to be able to extract specific attributes and handle nested elements. How can I effectively parse this large XML file without running out of memory? Are there any best practices or design patterns that I should consider for handling large XML files in C#? Any help would be greatly appreciated! This is happening in both development and production on macOS. Am I approaching this the right way? This is part of a larger service I'm building. Any feedback is welcome!