Building a News Ticker Using VB.Net - Why XML?

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Yes, there are many ways to get the text and XML is one easy way (for lazy programmers like me) to obtain the text data. First, I considered introducing the string in the application itself but then one has to compile it each and every time they modify the data.
Then, I considered using a text file – in this case I’ve to use the stream reader – to detect the end of the file.  Adding to the problem, the text file would suffer from a lack of clarity if one uses more and more text to scroll.

To avoid these problems, I chose the XML file, which I call “the news file”.  I did not use any XML schema or XSL to avoid the complexity.  The structure of the XML file is given below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ticker>
   <news>This article might  appear on w.devarticles.com</news>
   <news>This article was authored by Vikrant</news>
   <news>Hover the mouse over this app</news>
   <news>The timer just stopped</news>
   <news>Thanx to devarticle fans</news>
   <news>this ticker app is meant only for educational purpose</news>
</ticker>

The meaning of this file is self-evident.  The tag ticker is the root and news tags contain the text to be scrolled. That’s it!  Piece of cake, huh?  One can add the news tag at any time.

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