XmlTextWriter.Indentation Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assembly:

System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Source:

XmlTextWriter.cs

Gets or sets how many IndentChars to write for each level in the hierarchy when Formatting is set to Formatting.Indented.

public:
 property int Indentation { int get(); void set(int value); };

public int Indentation { get; set; }

member this.Indentation : int with get, set

Public Property Indentation As Integer

Property Value

Int32

Number of IndentChars for each level. The default is 2.

Exceptions

ArgumentException

Setting this property to a negative value.

Examples

The following example writes an XML fragment.

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   
   //Create a writer to write XML to the console.
   XmlTextWriter^ writer = nullptr;
   writer = gcnew XmlTextWriter( Console::Out );
   
   //Use indentation for readability.
   writer->Formatting = Formatting::Indented;
   writer->Indentation = 4;
   
   //Write an element (this one is the root).
   writer->WriteStartElement( "book" );
   
   //Write the title element.
   writer->WriteStartElement( "title" );
   writer->WriteString( "Pride And Prejudice" );
   writer->WriteEndElement();
   
   //Write the close tag for the root element.
   writer->WriteEndElement();
   
   //Write the XML to file and close the writer.
   writer->Close();
}

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

public class Sample
{

  public static void Main()
  {
     //Create a writer to write XML to the console.
     XmlTextWriter writer = null;
     writer = new XmlTextWriter (Console.Out);

     //Use indentation for readability.
     writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
     writer.Indentation = 4;

     //Write an element (this one is the root).
     writer.WriteStartElement("book");

     //Write the title element.
     writer.WriteStartElement("title");
     writer.WriteString("Pride And Prejudice");
     writer.WriteEndElement();

     //Write the close tag for the root element.
     writer.WriteEndElement();

     //Write the XML to file and close the writer.
     writer.Close();
  }
}

Option Explicit
Option Strict

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

Public Class Sample
    
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        'Create a writer to write XML to the console.
        Dim writer As XmlTextWriter = Nothing
        writer = New XmlTextWriter(Console.Out)
        
        'Use indentation for readability.
        writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
        writer.Indentation = 4
        
        'Write an element (this one is the root).
        writer.WriteStartElement("book")
        
        'Write the title element.
        writer.WriteStartElement("title")
        writer.WriteString("Pride And Prejudice")
        writer.WriteEndElement()
        
        'Write the close tag for the root element.
        writer.WriteEndElement()
        
        'Write the XML to file and close the writer.
        writer.Close()
    End Sub
End Class

Remarks

Note

Starting with the .NET Framework 2.0, we recommend that you create XmlWriter instances by using the XmlWriter.Create method and the XmlWriterSettings class to take advantage of new functionality.

Indentation is performed on following node types: DocumentType, Element, Comment, ProcessingInstruction, and CDATASection. All other node types are not affected. The XmlTextWriter does not indent the internal DTD subset. However, you could do the following to apply formatting to the internal DTD subset.

String name = "Employees";
String pubid = null;
String sysid = null;
String subset =
@"
    <!ELEMENT Employees (Employee)+>
    <!ELEMENT Employee EMPTY>
    <!ATTLIST Employee firstname CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ENTITY Company 'Microsoft'>]>
";
XmlTextWriter tw = new XmlTextWriter(Console.Out);
tw.WriteDocType(name, pubid, sysid, subset);

See also

• IndentChar
• Formatting