C# XmlTextWriter Tutorial and Example

C# XmlTextWriter Tutorial and Example

In this tutorial, we want to see how to programmatically create an XML file programmatically. The magic ball we use is the XmlTextWriter, a class defined in the System.Xml namespace.

Let's start.

What is XmlTextWriter

Well it's a class defined in the System.Xml namespace that will provide us with a fast, non-cached, forward-only way of generating streams or files containing XML data.

You instantiate the XMLTextWriter with the TextWriter to write to as well as the encoding to use. You can also indent the Xml for readability:

            var xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter("products.xml", Encoding.UTF8) {Formatting = Formatting.Indented};

(a). Starting XML Document

To write the start tag we use the WriteStartDocument() method of the XmlTextWriter class.

            xmlTextWriter.WriteStartDocument();

Later we will close it this way:

            xmlTextWriter.WriteEndDocument();

(b). Writing XML Comment

To programmatically write an xml comment you use the WriteComment() method of the XmlTextWriter class:

            xmlTextWriter.WriteComment("XML Document Commnet");

(c). Writing XML Comment

To programmatically write the start element:

            xmlTextWriter.WriteStartElement("PRODUCT");

(d). Writing XML Element String

You use the WriteElementString() method:

            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("NAME", "HP ELITEBOOK");

Here's how we will close it:

            xmlTextWriter.WriteEndElement();

Video Tutorial

Here's a video tutorial:

Example - Create XML File Programmatically

In this example we will see how to programmatically create an xml file with valid xml data using the XmlTextWriter class. We create that Xml file in the /bin/debug folder of the project.

Program.cs

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;

namespace XmlTextWriterFile
{
    class Program
    {
         /*
         * Create xml
         */
        private static void createXML()
        {
            var xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter("products.xml", Encoding.UTF8) {Formatting = Formatting.Indented};
            //start the xml document
            xmlTextWriter.WriteStartDocument();
            //write the xml comment
            xmlTextWriter.WriteComment("XML Document Commnet");
            //start the element
            xmlTextWriter.WriteStartElement("PRODUCT");
            //write the xml element strings
            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("NAME", "HP ELITEBOOK");
            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("RAM", "4GB");
            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("PROCESSOR", "Core i5");
            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("HDD", "500 GB");
            xmlTextWriter.WriteElementString("SCREEN", "15 inch");
            //end xml element
            xmlTextWriter.WriteEndElement();
            //end the xml document
            xmlTextWriter.WriteEndDocument();
            //close this as well as the underlying stream
            xmlTextWriter.Close();
            Console.WriteLine(@"Check out /bin/debug folder in your project for the created xml file.");
        }
        /*
         * Main method
         */
        static void Main()
        {
            createXML();
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

How to Run

Just copy the Program.cs file into your Console application. It has a main method and is runnable.