Adding XML string to XElement

Question

Hi I need to create an XElement from a string, which can be xml or plain string.

This code

    var doc = new XDocument(
        new XElement("results", "<result>...</result>")
    );

produces this

<results>&lt;result&gt;&lt;/result&gt;</results>

But if the string is XML, then I need proper XMl

<results><result>...</result></results>

Any ideas other than XElement.Parse() because it will throw exception if it is plain text?

You could test if the string is xml. E.g. it contains < and > if so use the parser, if not do something else (hard to tell what you wan't when its not XML) — CodeTower, May 16 '13 at 11:45
I was going to say this is a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1414561/how-to-add-an-existing-xml-string-into-a-xelement, but the key point is "other than `XElement.Parse()`", which is actually my question too, if not for the same reasons — drzaus, Jan 13 '14 at 18:01

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

1

See my answer on Is there an XElement equivalent to XmlWriter.WriteRaw?

Essentially, replace a placeholder for the content only if you know it's already valid XML.

var d = new XElement(root, XML_PLACEHOLDER);
var s = d.ToString().Replace(XML_PLACEHOLDER, child);

This method may also be faster.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

Community

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answered Jan 13 '14 at 18:37

drzaus

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Adil Mammadov · Answer 2 · 2013-05-16T12:00:35.093

0

I don't know if there is other way around and it also doesn't look as a best way but you can achieve it like this:

object resultContent;

if (condition)
{
    //if content is XmlElement
    resultContent = new XElement("result", "....");
}
else
{
    resultContent = "Text";
}

XDocument xDoc = new XDocument(new XElement("results", resultContent));

edited May 16 '13 at 12:00

answered May 16 '13 at 11:48

Adil Mammadov

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 16 '13 at 12:12

0

How about doing this:

XElement.Parse(String.Format("<Results>{0}</Results>",possibleXMLString));

... and before someone objects to this employing .Parse() method, which is mentioned by OP, please note that this is not the usage that was mentioned.

answered May 16 '13 at 12:12

Tormod

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Adding XML string to XElement

3 Answers3

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