Ok...so I sort of found a solution to this problem.
First of all I try to parse the xml using the following code:
private XDocument GetXmlDocument(String physicalPath)
{
XDocument xmlDocument;
var xmlStream = new System.IO.StreamReader(physicalPath);
try
{
xmlDocument = XDocument.Load(xmlStream, LoadOptions.SetLineInfo);
}
catch (XmlException)
{
//_log.Warn("Trying to clean document for HexaDecimal", xmlException);
xmlDocument = XmlSanitizingStream.TryToCleanXMLBeforeParsing(physicalPath);
}
return xmlDocument;
}
If it fails to load the document, then I will try to clean it using the technique used in this blogpost: http://seattlesoftware.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/hexadecimal-value-0-is-an-invalid-character/
It will not remove the character I mentioned before, but it will remove any character not allowed by the XML standard.
Then, after sanitizing the XML, I add an XMLReader and set its settings to not check characters:
public static XDocument TryToCleanXMLBeforeParsing(String physicalPath)
{
string xml;
Encoding encoding;
using (var reader = new XmlSanitizingStream(File.OpenRead(physicalPath)))
{
xml = reader.ReadToEnd();
encoding = reader.CurrentEncoding;
}
byte[] encodedString;
if (encoding.Equals(Encoding.UTF8)) encodedString = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xml);
else if (encoding.Equals(Encoding.UTF32)) encodedString = Encoding.UTF32.GetBytes(xml);
else encodedString = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(xml);
var ms = new MemoryStream(encodedString);
ms.Flush();
ms.Position = 0;
var settings = new XmlReaderSettings {CheckCharacters = false};
XmlReader xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(ms, settings);
var xmlDocument = XDocument.Load(xmlReader);
ms.Close();
return xmlDocument;
}
Since I've cleaned the document removing illegal characters before I add the ignore characters to the reader, I am pretty sure that I do not read a malformed XML document. Worst case scenario is I get a malformed XML and it will throw an error anyways.
I only use this for parsing and it should only be used to read the data. This will not make the XML well-formed and will in many cases throw exceptions elsewhere in your code. I am only using this because I cannot change what the customer is sending us and I have to read it as is.