How to convert string to xml format in c#?

Question

I am working on c# web services and here I am getting string response and I have attached below exception.

Exception message:

System.Xml.XmlException: Name cannot begin with the '{' character, hexadecimal value 0x7B. Line 3, position 14.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String[] args)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Int32 pos, String res, String[] args)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseAttributes()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElement()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElementContent()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadNode(Boolean skipOverWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc)
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml)

Code and example data:

var string ="";
XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
xmldoc.LoadXml(result);
return xmldoc;

var string ="<Wssrecords    PageSize="1"    PageCount="1"    PageNumber="1"    TotalRecordsFetched="1"   ><Wss    RowNumber ="0"    ID ="533"    DocumentName ="FXFrameworknkolla"    UserId ="kpease"    ActualName ="Narasimha"    TimeLastModified ="2014-08-13 12:21:25"    ModifiedBy ="AGILITYINDIA\fxservice"    CheckOutStatus ="None"    ServerRelativeUrl ="/TestSite/NASeForms/FXFrameworknkolla.png"    DocUrl ="http://inhydfrmtwo:33575/TestSite/NASeForms/FXFrameworknkolla.png"    selected =""    FileSize ="1971"        DocType ="General"        _CheckinComment = "533;#"    _EditMenuTableStart = "FXFrameworknkolla.png"    _EditMenuTableEnd = "533"    LinkFilenameNoMenu = "FXFrameworknkolla.png"    LinkFilename = "FXFrameworknkolla.png"    DocIcon = "png"    ServerUrl = "/TestSite/NASeForms/FXFrameworknkolla.png"    EncodedAbsUrl = "http://inhydfrmtwo:33575/TestSite/NASeForms/FXFrameworknkolla.png"    BaseName = "FXFrameworknkolla"    FileSizeDisplay = "1971"    MetaInfo = "533;#ActualName:SW|Narasimha
vti_rtag:SW|rt:6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A@00000000007
vti_etag:SW|"{6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A},7"
vti_parserversion:SR|12.0.0.6665
DocType:SW|General
vti_modifiedby:SR|AGILITYINDIA\\fxservice
vti_docstoreversion:IR|7
ContentTypeId:SW|0x0101000069C1CDA7F5314AB877D5A06E6948E3
vti_lastheight:IX|48
UserId:SW|kpease
vti_author:SR|AGILITYINDIA\\fxservice
FormCode:SW|EXP-7204
vti_lastwidth:IX|48
vti_replid:SR|rid:{6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A}
"    _Level = "1"    _IsCurrentVersion = "1"    SelectTitle = "533"    SelectFilename = "533"    owshiddenversion = "8"    _UIVersion = "512"    _UIVersionString = "1.0"    Order = "53300.0000000000"    GUID = "{763F4C63-9271-4CF6-9CCF-2C419A0AE698}"    WorkflowVersion = "1"    ParentVersionString = "533;#"    ParentLeafName = "533;#"    Combine = "0"    RepairDocument = "0"/></Wssrecords>"

Does anyone know how I can solve this xml problem? Please give me some suggestions.

how does the result look like? is it maybe JSON and not XML ? — Mark, Aug 13 '14 at 07:23
because of "{" character it seems you are getting back json and not xml. Please post your xml here — Parv Sharma, Aug 13 '14 at 07:23
Are you loading empty string? That code cannot throw exception you have posted - input XML (in this case `result`) doesn't contain bracket. Are you sure you are loading proper XML? — , Aug 13 '14 at 07:24
Neither does it look like JSON. Doesn't look like any standard format I know. — chris, Aug 13 '14 at 07:30
refer here to convert string to xml http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11492705/how-to-create-xml-document-using-xmldocument — Manjula D, Aug 13 '14 at 07:36
`var string = ...` Come on mate. Atleast make an effort to have us reproduce it. — Matthijs, Aug 13 '14 at 07:47

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 13 '14 at 07:39

That string simply isn't valid (well-formed) XML. You cannot "convert" an arbitrary string to XML - at least not without some effort.

In your case, the string content looks like XML, but has errors.

In particular, look at this "line":

vti_etag:SW|"{6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A},7"

That is actually part of "MetaInfo" attribute's value. Since it is part of an attribute, it cannot contain literal quotes. For your example, turning it into

vti_etag:SW|&quot;{6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A},7&quot;

Would result in valid XML.

I suggest you read up on XML in general, and about escaping in particular. Also, if you have control over the generation of your XML data, make sure you use the proper tools to generate it in the first place. Don't use string.Format, StringBuilder or such, but rather XmlWriter, XDocument, XmlDocument, etc.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '14 at 07:36

Go here to check your XML.

The first error would be the part where it says:

vti_etag:SW|"{6815B6B4-1BB2-49D5-8326-3FFCE74A5E1A},7"

since that would not mix well with your other attribute values that are quoted as well.

If you truly don't have control over the string response, you'd best perform manipulation on the string to fix it before you load it to XmlDocument.

How to convert string to xml format in c#?

2 Answers2