I want some Moore

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

Good post. I did not know about System.Security.SecurityElement.Encode().

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

To be totally safe, besides escaping the 5 chars above there are other chars you need to worry about. There are some chars that are simply forbidden in XML. See: http://www.w3.org/TR/xml11/#charsets

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

Thanks for the breakdown. I like to have optons.

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

It's Good

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

I can't stop XmlText from converting chars.. I'm to the point of automating a query replace after my XML doc is created, All help is greatly apprecaited.. In my code snipet below i need to maintain the < > chars in my CData..
XmlElement fieldNodeBody = xmlDoc.CreateElement("field");
fieldNodeBody.SetAttribute("name", "body");
XmlText fieldNodeBodyText = xmlDoc.CreateTextNode("field");
fieldNodeBodyText.Value = "<![CDATA[" + adoDR[5].ToString() + "]]>";
fieldNodeBody.AppendChild(fieldNodeBodyText);
contentNode.AppendChild(fieldNodeBody);
Thanks
rich

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

Another way is simply to use the InnerText and InnerXml properties of an XmlDOM node.

string xml = "<node>it's my \"node\" & i like it<node>";
XmlDocument xDoc = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement xElem = xDoc.CreateElement("Content");
xElem.InnerText = xml;
MessageBox.Show(xElem.InnerXml); // Get escaped content
MessageBox.Show(xElem.InnerText); // Get XML

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

The most straightforward and safe way is to use XmlWriter.

string xml = "<node>it's my \"node\" & i like it<node>";
StringBuilder encodedString = new StringBuilder (xml.Length);
using (var writer = XmlWriter.Create(encodedString))
{
writer.WriteString(xml);
}

using XmlDocument is costly, and using HtmlEncode is incorrect - HTML will not encode ' and WILL encode e as &eacute;, etc.

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

Thanks keep it up :)

# re: Different ways how to escape an XML string in C#

I personally like the simplicity of solution # 1 but wouldn't want to create a dependency from System.Security just to use the System.Security.SecurityElement.Escape(string) method.

I reflected this method and it does something similar to the solution #1.

private static readonly char[] s_escapeChars = new char[] { '<', '>', '"', '\'', '&' };
private static readonly string[] s_escapeStringPairs = new string[] { "<", "&lt;", ">", "&gt;", "\"", "&quot;", "'", "&apos;", "&", "&amp;" };

/// <summary>
/// Escapes the specified text.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="str">The text to escape.</param>
/// <returns>An escaped string.</returns>
public static string Escape(string str)
{
if (str == null)
{
return null;
}
StringBuilder builder = null;
int length = str.Length;
int startIndex = 0;
while (true)
{
int num2 = str.IndexOfAny(s_escapeChars, startIndex);
if (num2 == -1)
{
if (builder == null)
{
return str;
}
builder.Append(str, startIndex, length - startIndex);
return builder.ToString();
}
if (builder == null)
{
builder = new StringBuilder();
}
builder.Append(str, startIndex, num2 - startIndex);
builder.Append(GetEscapeSequence(str[num2]));
startIndex = num2 + 1;
}
}

private static string GetEscapeSequence(char c)
{
int length = s_escapeStringPairs.Length;
for (int i = 0; i < length; i += 2)
{
string str = s_escapeStringPairs[i];
string str2 = s_escapeStringPairs[i + 1];
if (str[0] == c)
{
return str2;
}
}
return c.ToString();
}