Convert XmlDocument to String

Question

Here is how I'm currently converting XMLDocument to String

StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

xmlDoc.WriteTo(xmlTextWriter);

return stringWriter.ToString();

The problem with this method is that if I have " ((quotes) which I have in attributes) it escapes them.

For Instance:

<Campaign name="ABC">
</Campaign>

Above is the expected XML. But it returns

<Campaign name=\"ABC\">
</Campaign>

I can do String.Replace "\" but is that method okay? Are there any side-effects? Will it work fine if the XML itself contains a "\"

Answer 1

As an extension method:

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string AsString(this XmlDocument xmlDoc)
    {
        using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
        {
            using (XmlTextWriter tx = new XmlTextWriter(sw))
            {
                xmlDoc.WriteTo(tx);
                string strXmlText = sw.ToString();
                return strXmlText;
            }
        }
    }
}

Now to use simply:

yourXmlDoc.AsString()

Answer 2

If you are using Windows.Data.Xml.Dom.XmlDocument version of XmlDocument (used in UWP apps for example), you can use yourXmlDocument.GetXml() to get the XML as a string.

Answer 3

There aren't any quotes. It's just VS debugger. Try printing to the console or saving to a file and you'll see. As a side note: always dispose disposable objects:

using (var stringWriter = new StringWriter())
using (var xmlTextWriter = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter))
{
    xmlDoc.WriteTo(xmlTextWriter);
    xmlTextWriter.Flush();
    return stringWriter.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
}

Answer 4

Assuming xmlDoc is an XmlDocument object whats wrong with xmlDoc.OuterXml?

return xmlDoc.OuterXml;

The OuterXml property returns a string version of the xml.

Answer 5

" is shown as \" in the debugger, but the data is correct in the string, and you don't need to replace anything. Try to dump your string to a file and you will note that the string is correct.