CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netvb.netlinq-to-xmlwhitespacexelement
Todd Main
Todd Main

Reputation: 29153

Get whitespace in XElement

I know this is a bit stupid, but XML I'm transforming sometimes has an element that is just a single or double whitespace. Like this:

Dim es1 = <Text> </Text>

When I try to get the .Value of this like Dim resultText = es1.Value, it's just an empty string. This isn't a problem if there is leading and/or trailing whitespace and at least one other character in the element.

Is there anyway to coerce .Value to give me white space if that is all there is?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 2527

Answers (3)

dbasnett
dbasnett

Reputation: 11773

If you need a XML literal with white space use an embedded expression. This example has two spaces.

    Dim TwoSpaces As XElement = <f><%= "  " %></f>
    Dim s As String = TwoSpaces.Value

Upvotes: 1

Trey Carroll
Trey Carroll

Reputation: 2382

Load your XDocument with:

LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace

Upvotes: 2

Jon Skeet
Jon Skeet

Reputation: 1500375

Use LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace when you parse the XML. C# sample code:

using System;
using System.Xml.Linq;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string xml = "<Foo> </Foo>";

        XElement withWhitespace = XElement.Parse(xml,
            LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
        Console.WriteLine(withWhitespace.Value.Length); // Prints 1
        XElement withoutWhitespace = XElement.Parse(xml);
        Console.WriteLine(withoutWhitespace.Value.Length); // Prints 0

    }
}

(Obviously this is available when using Load as well as Parse, etc.)

I don't know how that fits in with VB XML literals, but I'll assume that normally you're actually parsing from a file etc :)

Upvotes: 6

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