How do I generate &quot in XML from C#

Question

I'm using XmlTextWriter to generate XML from a C# app. The initial input will be in this format, 1" , but I can replace it with whatever. I need to end up with 1" but I keep getting 1"

C#

    xml.WriteStartElement("data");
    xml.WriteAttributeString("type", "wstring");
    xml.WriteString("1"");
    xml.WriteEndElement();

Ha! When I past the XML I need in here it converts it to 1". But whats I really need to show is the actual 1" in the 3rd line of the code.

I also need to use / and Ø. How can I do this, thanks.

Answer 1

I need to end up with 1" but I keep getting 1"

That's because you're trying to do the XML API's job for it.

Your job is to provide just text - its job is to handle escaping and anything else XML needs to do.

So you should just use

xml.WriteString("1\"");

... where the backslash is just for the sake of C#'s string literal handling, and has nothing to do with XML. The logical value you're trying to write out is a 1 followed by a double-quote. Whether it's escaped as " or not should be irrelevant to anything processing it. If you've got something which is over-sensitive, you should fix that.

If you desperately need this (and I would again strongly urge you not to), try:

xml.WriteString("1");
xml.WriteEntityRef("quot");

(I'd also urge you to use LINQ to XML unless you're in a situation where you really need to use XmlWriter. It'll make your life significantly simpler.)