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How to read and write an encoded document (LINQ to XML)

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To create an encoded XML document, you add an XDeclaration to the XML tree, setting the encoding to the desired code page name.

Any value returned by WebName is a valid value.

If you read an encoded document, the Encoding property will be set to the code page name.

If you set Encoding to a valid code page name, LINQ to XML will serialize with the specified encoding.

Example: Create two documents that have different encoding and identify the encoding.

The following example creates two documents, one with utf-8 encoding, and one with utf-16 encoding. It then loads the documents and prints the encoding to the console.

Console.WriteLine("Creating a document with utf-8 encoding");
XDocument encodedDoc8 = new XDocument(
    new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"),
    new XElement("Root", "Content")
);
encodedDoc8.Save("EncodedUtf8.xml");
Console.WriteLine("Encoding is:{0}", encodedDoc8.Declaration.Encoding);
Console.WriteLine();

Console.WriteLine("Creating a document with utf-16 encoding");
XDocument encodedDoc16 = new XDocument(
    new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-16", "yes"),
    new XElement("Root", "Content")
);
encodedDoc16.Save("EncodedUtf16.xml");
Console.WriteLine("Encoding is:{0}", encodedDoc16.Declaration.Encoding);
Console.WriteLine();

XDocument newDoc8 = XDocument.Load("EncodedUtf8.xml");
Console.WriteLine("Encoded document:");
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText("EncodedUtf8.xml"));
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Encoding of loaded document is:{0}", newDoc8.Declaration.Encoding);
Console.WriteLine();

XDocument newDoc16 = XDocument.Load("EncodedUtf16.xml");
Console.WriteLine("Encoded document:");
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText("EncodedUtf16.xml"));
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Encoding of loaded document is:{0}", newDoc16.Declaration.Encoding);

Console.WriteLine("Creating a document with utf-8 encoding")
Dim encodedDoc8 As XDocument = _
        <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes'?>
        <Root>Content</Root>

encodedDoc8.Save("EncodedUtf8.xml")
Console.WriteLine("Encoding is:{0}", encodedDoc8.Declaration.Encoding)
Console.WriteLine()

Console.WriteLine("Creating a document with utf-16 encoding")
Dim encodedDoc16 As XDocument = _
        <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-16' standalone='yes'?>
        <Root>Content</Root>

encodedDoc16.Save("EncodedUtf16.xml")
Console.WriteLine("Encoding is:{0}", encodedDoc16.Declaration.Encoding)
Console.WriteLine()

Dim newDoc8 As XDocument = XDocument.Load("EncodedUtf8.xml")
Console.WriteLine("Encoded document:")
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText("EncodedUtf8.xml"))
Console.WriteLine()
Console.WriteLine("Encoding of loaded document is:{0}", newDoc8.Declaration.Encoding)
Console.WriteLine()

Dim newDoc16 As XDocument = XDocument.Load("EncodedUtf16.xml")
Console.WriteLine("Encoded document:")
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText("EncodedUtf16.xml"))
Console.WriteLine()
Console.WriteLine("Encoding of loaded document is:{0}", newDoc16.Declaration.Encoding)

This example produces the following output:

Creating a document with utf-8 encoding
Encoding is:utf-8

Creating a document with utf-16 encoding
Encoding is:utf-16

Encoded document:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Root>Content</Root>

Encoding of loaded document is:utf-8

Encoded document:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" standalone="yes"?>
<Root>Content</Root>

Encoding of loaded document is:utf-16

See also