XmlNode.InnerXml Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assembly:

System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Source:

XmlNode.cs

Gets or sets the markup representing only the child nodes of this node.

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

public virtual string InnerXml { get; set; }

member this.InnerXml : string with get, set

Public Overridable Property InnerXml As String

Property Value

String

The markup of the child nodes of this node, not including default attributes.

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

Setting this property on a node that cannot have child nodes.

XmlException

The XML specified when setting this property is not well-formed.

Examples

The following example compares the InnerText and InnerXml properties.

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   XmlDocument^ doc = gcnew XmlDocument;
   doc->LoadXml( "<root>"
   "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>"
   "</root>" );
   XmlNode^ elem = doc->DocumentElement->FirstChild;
   
   // Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
   Console::WriteLine( "Display the InnerText of the element..." );
   Console::WriteLine( elem->InnerText );
   
   // InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
   Console::WriteLine( "Display the InnerXml of the element..." );
   Console::WriteLine( elem->InnerXml );
   
   // Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.  
   // The markup is escaped.
   elem->InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped.";
   Console::WriteLine( elem->OuterXml );
   
   // Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.  
   // The markup is not escaped.
   elem->InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>.";
   Console::WriteLine( elem->OuterXml );
}

using System;
using System.Xml;
public class Test {

  public static void Main() {
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
    doc.LoadXml("<root>"+
                "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>" +
                "</root>");

    XmlNode elem = doc.DocumentElement.FirstChild;

    // Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerText of the element...");
    Console.WriteLine( elem.InnerText );

    // InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerXml of the element...");
    Console.WriteLine(elem.InnerXml);

    // Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.
    // The markup is escaped.
    elem.InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped.";
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml );

    // Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.
    // The markup is not escaped.
    elem.InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>.";
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml );
  }
}

Imports System.Xml

public class Test

  public shared sub Main()

    Dim doc as XmlDocument = new XmlDocument()
    doc.LoadXml("<root>"& _
                "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>" & _
                "</root>")

    Dim elem as XmlNode = doc.DocumentElement.FirstChild

    ' Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerText of the element...")
    Console.WriteLine( elem.InnerText )

    ' InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerXml of the element...")
    Console.WriteLine(elem.InnerXml)

    ' Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.  
    ' The markup is escaped.
    elem.InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped."
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml )

    ' Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.  
    ' The markup is not escaped.
    elem.InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>."
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml )
    
  end sub
end class

Remarks

Attempting to set this property from a node that cannot have child nodes, for example a Text node, throws an exception. Otherwise, setting InnerXml replaces the child nodes of the node with the parsed contents of the given string. The parsing is done in the current namespace context.

This property is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

Note

InnerXml is not an efficient way to modify the DOM. There may be performance issues when replacing complex nodes. It is more efficient to construct nodes and use methods such as InsertBefore, InsertAfter, AppendChild, and RemoveChild to modify the Xml document.