In C#, how to get XML node value that is white space?

c# xml xmlnode
Boris picture Boris · Dec 18, 2009 · Viewed 7.9k times · Source

I have a XML node with a value which is a white space. Example: 

<sampleNode> </sampleNode>

I am using a Serializer to get the data from XML document to store it in an object. Now, the problem I am facing is: If the XML node value contains nothing but a white space, as does the sample node above, the serializer interpretates it as a string.Empty.

How can I overcome this? I need get the actual white space, i.e. " ". Thanks a bunch!

Answer

Oded picture Oded · Dec 18, 2009

Assuming you are using XmlDocument, you should set the PreserveWhiteSpace property to True.

If using and XmlReader set the WhitespaceHandling property WhitespaceHandling.All.

See this MSDN article about Preserving White Space While Serializing.

The different serializers handle this different ways, try using the XmlTextReader for this, as per this forum post.

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