XmlWriterSettings.IndentChars Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assembly:

System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Source:

XmlWriterSettings.cs

Gets or sets the character string to use when indenting. This setting is used when the Indent property is set to true.

public:
 property System::String ^ IndentChars { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };

public string IndentChars { get; set; }

member this.IndentChars : string with get, set

Public Property IndentChars As String

Property Value

String

The character string to use when indenting. This can be set to any string value. However, to ensure valid XML, you should specify only valid white space characters, such as space characters, tabs, carriage returns, or line feeds. The default is two spaces.

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

The value assigned to the IndentChars is null.

Examples

The following example creates an XmlWriter object that uses the TAB character for indentation.

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

public class Sample {

  public static void Main() {

    XmlWriter writer = null;

    try {

       // Create an XmlWriterSettings object with the correct options.
       XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
       settings.Indent = true;
       settings.IndentChars = ("\t");
       settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;

       // Create the XmlWriter object and write some content.
       writer = XmlWriter.Create("data.xml", settings);
       writer.WriteStartElement("book");
       writer.WriteElementString("item", "tesing");
       writer.WriteEndElement();
    
       writer.Flush();
     }
     finally  {
        if (writer != null)
          writer.Close();
     }
  }
}

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Text

Public Class Sample 

  Public Shared Sub Main() 
  
    Dim writer As XmlWriter = Nothing

    Try 

       ' Create an XmlWriterSettings object with the correct options. 
       Dim settings As XmlWriterSettings = New XmlWriterSettings()
       settings.Indent = true
       settings.IndentChars = (ControlChars.Tab)
       settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true

       ' Create the XmlWriter object and write some content.
       writer = XmlWriter.Create("data.xml", settings)
       writer.WriteStartElement("book")
       writer.WriteElementString("item", "tesing")
       writer.WriteEndElement()
    
       writer.Flush()

      Finally
         If Not (writer Is Nothing) Then
            writer.Close()
         End If
      End Try

   End Sub 
End Class

Remarks

This property only applies to XmlWriter instances that output text content; otherwise, this setting is ignored. The XmlWriter throws an exception if the indent characters would result in invalid XML.