Custom indent for default xmlns attribute wile writing through XmlWriter

Question

I'm struggling a bit trying to find the appropriate way of writing exactly this XML with XmlWriter and underlying string builder:

<x:node xmlns="uri:default"
        xmlns:x="uri:special-x"
        xmlns:y="uri:special-y"
        y:name="MyNode"
        SomeOtherAttr="ok">
</x:node>

The best I have so far:

static string GetXml()
{
    var r = new StringBuilder();
    var w = XmlWriter.Create(r, new XmlWriterSettings { OmitXmlDeclaration = true });
    w.WriteStartElement("x", "node", "uri:special-x");
    w.Flush();
    r.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    w.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "x", null, "uri:special-x");
    w.Flush();
    r.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    w.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "y", null, "uri:special-y");
    w.Flush();
    r.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    w.WriteAttributeString("name", "uri:special-y", "vd");
    w.Flush();
    r.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    w.WriteAttributeString("SomeOtherAttr", "ok");
    w.Flush();
    w.WriteEndElement();
    w.Flush();
    return r.ToString();
}

which creates

<x:node
        xmlns:x="uri:special-x"
        xmlns:y="uri:special-y"
        y:name="vd"
        SomeOtherAttr="ok" />

but I cannot find a way to write default xmlns right after the node. Any try leads to error or different formatting.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Update: maybe I can write it directly to the StringBuilder but I look for more... hm.. correct approach.

Charles Mager · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-10 11:30:54Z

1

You'd need to actually add your default namespace, which you're currently not doing:

var sb = new StringBuilder();
var writer = XmlWriter.Create(sb, new XmlWriterSettings
{
    OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
});

using (writer)
{
    writer.WriteStartElement("x", "node", "uri:special-x");
    writer.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "uri:default");
    writer.Flush();
    sb.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    writer.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "x", null, "uri:special-x");
    writer.Flush();
    sb.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    writer.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "y", null, "uri:special-y");
    writer.Flush();
    sb.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    writer.WriteAttributeString("name", "uri:special-y", "vd");
    writer.Flush();
    sb.Append("\n" + new string(' ', 7));
    writer.WriteAttributeString("SomeOtherAttr", "ok");            
    writer.WriteEndElement();
}

See this demo: https://dotnetfiddle.net/994YqW

That being said, why are you trying to do this? Just let it format it how it likes, it's still semantically the same and perfectly valid.

answered Jul 10, 2015 at 11:30

Charles Mager

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2 Comments

Alex Netkachov Over a year ago

I need to compare many WPF files and want to convert them to the "canonical" form to simplify it and potentially use the result as auto-formatting tool for the project files. For this the documents should be formatted in the way VS/Resharper does it + some "canonical" rules like ordered attributes etc.

Charles Mager Over a year ago

That makes some sense. Normally XML isn't for human consumption, but XAML is a bit of a special case!

Alexander Petrov · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-10 11:37:37Z

1

Why so hard? Try this please:

var r = new StringBuilder();

var settings = new XmlWriterSettings
{
    OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
    NewLineOnAttributes = true,
    Indent = true,
    IndentChars = "\t"
};

using (var w = XmlWriter.Create(r, settings))
{
    w.WriteStartElement("x", "node", "uri:special-x");

    w.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "x", null, "uri:special-x");
    w.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "y", null, "uri:special-y");
    w.WriteAttributeString("name", "uri:special-y", "vd");
    w.WriteAttributeString("SomeOtherAttr", "ok");

    w.WriteEndElement();
}

All namespaces will be on one line.

answered Jul 10, 2015 at 11:37

Alexander Petrov

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2 Comments

Alex Netkachov Over a year ago

Thanks, nice one. Is there anything like NewLineOnAttributes but for namespaces as well?

Alexander Petrov Over a year ago

@AlexAtNet Unfortunately no.

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