How do I make the value of an XElement be wrapped in ![CDATA[***]]?

Question

This is when using XDocument from .net.

I thought this might work...

xElement.Element(elementName).Value = new XCData(value).ToString();

... but it comes out like this...

<name>&lt;![CDATA[hello world]]&gt;</name>

score 49 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 02 '12 at 10:34

49

XCData is a type of XNode. As such, you should try to Add it to the element, rather than set the value (which is documented to be the flattened text content of the element):

xElement.Element(elementName).Add(new XCData(value));

answered Mar 02 '12 at 10:34

Damien_The_Unbeliever

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score 45 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 23 '13 at 13:14

45

If you are creating the XElement (vs. modifying it), you can also just add add it directly in the constructor as the content like so:

new XElement(elementName, new XCData(value));

answered Jul 23 '13 at 13:14

jigamiller

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Ral Zarek · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-02T10:38:08.417

43

Try

xElement.Element(elementName).ReplaceNodes(new XCData(value));

edited Mar 02 '12 at 10:38

answered Mar 02 '12 at 10:33

Ral Zarek

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Thanks :) and just to add for me I needed the CDATA to replace another element which had more sibling nodes so used ReplaceWith but the idea came from your answer. – Rameez Ahmed Sayad Jul 24 '13 at 07:16

How do I make the value of an XElement be wrapped in ![CDATA[***]]?

3 Answers3