c# - XmlWriter to Write to a String Instead of to a File

Question

I have a WCF service that needs to return a string of XML. But it seems like the writer only wants to build up a file, not a string. I tried:

string nextXMLstring = "";
using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(nextXMLstring))

This generates an error saying nextXMLstring doesnt have a file path. It wants something like:

using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create("nextXMLstring.xml"))

How can I build up my XML and then return it as a string??

Thanks!!

Answer 1

You need to create a StringWriter, and pass that to the XmlWriter.

The string overload of the XmlWriter.Create is for a filename.

E.g.

using (var sw = new StringWriter()) {
  using (var xw = XmlWriter.Create(sw)) {
    // Build Xml with xw.


  }
  return sw.ToString();
}