XmlTextWriter Class

The XmlTextWriter class provides a fast, non-cached, forward-only way of generating streams or files containing XML data. It implements the XmlWriter abstract base class.

Overview

Syntax

Members

Example

Key Features

Supports UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 encoding.
Provides methods for writing elements, attributes, text, comments, and processing instructions.
Automatic handling of XML escaping and formatting.

public class XmlTextWriter : XmlWriter, IDisposable
{
    public XmlTextWriter(string outputFile);
    public XmlTextWriter(Stream output);
    public XmlTextWriter(TextWriter writer);
    public Formatting Formatting { get; set; }
    public XmlNamespaceHandling NamespaceHandling { get; set; }
    public bool Indent { get; set; }
    public string IndentChars { get; set; }
    public bool NewLineOnAttributes { get; set; }
    // ... other members
}

Properties

Name	Type	Description
Formatting	Formatting	Gets or sets how the output is formatted.
Indent	bool	Gets or sets whether output is indented.
IndentChars	string	Gets or sets characters used when indenting.
NewLineOnAttributes	bool	Gets or sets whether attributes are placed on new lines.

Methods

Signature	Description
WriteStartDocument()	Writes the XML declaration.
WriteStartElement(string prefix, string localName, string ns)	Writes a start tag.
WriteString(string text)	Writes text content.
WriteEndElement()	Closes the current element.
WriteComment(string text)	Writes an XML comment.
Flush()	Flushes whatever is in the buffer to the underlying stream.

Sample Code

using System;
using System.Xml;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        using (XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter("books.xml"))
        {
            writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
            writer.Indentation = 4;

            writer.WriteStartDocument();
            writer.WriteStartElement("catalog");

            writer.WriteStartElement("book");
            writer.WriteAttributeString("id", "bk101");
            writer.WriteElementString("author", "Gambardella, Matthew");
            writer.WriteElementString("title", "XML Developer's Guide");
            writer.WriteElementString("genre", "Computer");
            writer.WriteElementString("price", "44.95");
            writer.WriteElementString("publish_date", "2000-10-01");
            writer.WriteElementString("description", "An in-depth look at creating applications with XML.");
            writer.WriteEndElement(); // 

            writer.WriteEndElement(); // 
            writer.WriteEndDocument();
        }

        Console.WriteLine("XML file 'books.xml' created successfully.");
    }
}