Encoding HTML data in an XML file[Answered] RSS

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  Keep it Simp...

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  Encoding HTML data in an XML file

  Nov 24, 2015 12:46 AM|Keep it Simple|LINK

  Hi

  I have a DataTable, where one of its columns will have clean valid HTML input from the administrator only.

  I am using the following code to write to an XML file:

  myDataTable.DataSet.WriteXml(filePath, XmlWriteMode.IgnoreSchema);
  

  when I open the XML file, the column containing the HTML content, seems to be encoded:

  <h1>Hello World</h1>

  Also, in another test, I have explicitly applied HttpUtility.HtmlEncode() on the HTML column before calling the WriteXml method.

  When I open the XML file again, the column containing the HTML, seems to be encoded similarly:

  <h1>Hello World</h1>

  Questions

  1. From the first test result, I am assuming the XmWriter is already doing encoding on the HTML content internally / automatically?

  2. Should I also use HttpUtility.HtmlEncode, or is this redundant i.e. double encoding?

  Thanks.

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  Mikesdotnett...

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  Re: Encoding HTML data in an XML file

  Nov 24, 2015 07:12 AM|Mikesdotnetting|LINK

  Keep it Simple

  From the first test result, I am assuming the XmWriter is already doing encoding on the HTML content internally / automatically?

  Yes.

  Keep it Simple

  Should I also use HttpUtility.HtmlEncode

  No. There is no need. 

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  Zhi Lv - MSF...

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  Re: Encoding HTML data in an XML file

  Nov 24, 2015 08:02 AM|Zhi Lv - MSFT|LINK

  Hi Sir,

  Keep it Simple

  Questions

  1. From the first test result, I am assuming the XmWriter is already doing encoding on the HTML content internally / automatically?

  2. Should I also use HttpUtility.HtmlEncode, or is this redundant i.e. double encoding?

  Yes, you are right, the XmlWriter method will automatically encode the html content. Because, if it's not encoding the content, the output XML file might be like this:

  <h1> Hello World </h1>

  Thus, when you read this xml file, it will be read as an xml node, instead the text content.

  Keep it Simple

   Should I also use HttpUtility.HtmlEncode, or is this redundant i.e. double encoding?

  There is no need to use it. The XmlWriter method will automatically encode it.

  Best regards,
  Dillion

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  Keep it Simp...

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  Re: Encoding HTML data in an XML file

  Nov 24, 2015 08:29 PM|Keep it Simple|LINK

  Dillion and Mike

  I needed a sanity check on what seems obvious.

  Thanks for your help!