Why xml serialization adds an extra whitespace character inside the element?

Question

I am trying to serialize an object to XML and the problem that I am getting is that the object gets serialized to

<something />

instead of

<something/>

I believe that both are valid XML syntax, but I have to get <something/>

Here is my code

public static string Serialize<T>(T ObjectToSerialize)
{
    XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings()
    {
        OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
        Encoding = Encoding.UTF8,
    };

    XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(ObjectToSerialize.GetType());

    using (StringWriter textWriter = new StringWriter())
    {
        using (var xw = XmlWriter.Create(textWriter, settings))
        {
            xmlSerializer.Serialize(xw, ObjectToSerialize);

        }

        return textWriter.ToString();
    }
}

How can I fix it?

Did setting Indent=false helped you ? [Look at this answer for code](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5414617/prevent-xmlserializer-from-formatting-output) — Manoj Choudhari, Jan 07 '20 at 12:15
Also why do you want to omit the space ? If you are deserializing, it will not cause any issue as such. — Manoj Choudhari, Jan 07 '20 at 12:16
@ManojChoudhari I have to omit it, as it is requested by 3rd party integration. I agree with you that shouldnt be an issue, but I have to fix it... not sure how. — mko, Jan 07 '20 at 12:26
@jdweng i agree, but the question is how to display an empty node like without hiding it completely — mko, Jan 07 '20 at 12:27
This is [hard-coded](https://referencesource.microsoft.com/#System.Xml/System/Xml/Core/XmlTextWriter.cs,1159) — canton7, Jan 07 '20 at 12:31
Take a look [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/462741/space-before-closing-slash). Maybe it'll be more clear to you. — MZanetti, Jan 08 '20 at 10:26

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 07 '20 at 15:40

0

May not be the most efficient solution, but you could do a simple String.Replace before returning serialized data in Serialize<T>().

Replacing

 return textWriter.ToString();

With

 return textWriter.ToString().Replace(" />","/>");

answered Jan 07 '20 at 15:40

Anu Viswan

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That is what i did at the end, but was looking for a more cleaner solution – mko Jan 08 '20 at 09:09

Why xml serialization adds an extra whitespace character inside the element?

1 Answers1