I figured out the problem:

MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("Main List")

("Main List") has a space there, once I changed this to ("MainList"), the problem went away.

Can you not have spaces as a name? Is there a way to do this?

thanks
Gerry

 Hi all,

 When I try to read the XML I get the error below and highlights this
 (Do While MainReader.Read)?

 Error:
 A first chance exception of type 'System.Xml.XmlException' occurred in system.xml.dll
 Additional information: System error.

 Please help.

  Friend Function CreateXMLfiles()

         'Write XML DEFAULT files

         Dim MainListWriter As XmlTextWriter = New XmlTextWriter(WorkingDir & "main.xml", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)

         MainListWriter.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
         MainListWriter.Indentation = 2   'Indent tags by 2 characters.
         MainListWriter.QuoteChar = """"c 'Enclose attributes'  values in double quotes.
         MainListWriter.WriteStartDocument(True)
         MainListWriter.WriteComment("Main List Build")

         MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("Main List")

         MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("MAIN")
         MainListWriter.WriteAttributeString("Name", "Administration")
         MainListWriter.WriteElementString("sublist", "")
         MainListWriter.WriteEndElement()

         MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("MAIN")
         MainListWriter.WriteAttributeString("Name", "Search")
         MainListWriter.WriteElementString("sublist", "")
         MainListWriter.WriteEndElement()
     
         MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("MAIN")
         MainListWriter.WriteAttributeString("Name", "----------------------")
         MainListWriter.WriteEndElement()

         MainListWriter.WriteStartElement("MAIN")
         MainListWriter.WriteAttributeString("Name", "ERCP")
         MainListWriter.WriteElementString("sublist", "4")
         MainListWriter.WriteEndElement()    

         MainListWriter.WriteEndDocument()
         MainListWriter.Close()

   End Function

  Friend Function LoadList(ByVal ElemName As String)

         Dim MainReader As New XmlTextReader(WorkingDir & "main.xml")

         Do While MainReader.Read
             Select Case MainReader.NodeType
                 Case XmlNodeType.Document  ' The node is an Element
                     

                 Case XmlNodeType.Element

             End Select
         Loop

         MainReader.Close()
  End Function

 Thanks
 Gerry