XmlReader.ReadInnerXml Method (System.Xml)

ReadInnerXml Method

Collapse All

Language Filter

This page is specific to

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

.NET Framework Class Library

XmlReader..::.ReadInnerXml Method

When overridden in a derived class, reads all the content, including markup, as a string.

Namespace: System.Xml
Assembly: System.Xml (in System.Xml.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Overridable Function ReadInnerXml As String

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As XmlReader
Dim returnValue As String

returnValue = instance.ReadInnerXml()

public virtual string ReadInnerXml()

Visual C++

public:
virtual String^ ReadInnerXml()

JScript

public function ReadInnerXml() : String

Return Value

Type: System..::.String
All the XML content, including markup, in the current node. If the current node has no children, an empty string is returned.
If the current node is neither an element nor attribute, an empty string is returned.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
XmlException	The XML was not well-formed, or an error occurred while parsing the XML.

Remarks

This method returns all the content of the current node including the markup. The current node (start tag) and corresponding end node (end tag) are not returned. For example, if you had the following:

 <node>
  this <child id="123"/>
 </node>

ReadInnerXml returns this <child id="123"/>

This method handles element and attribute nodes in the following manner:

Node type	Position before the call	XML fragment	Return value	Position after the call
Element	On the item1 start tag.	<item1>text1</item1><item2>text2</item2>	text1	On the item2 start tag.
Attribute	On the attr1 attribute node.	<item attr1="val1" attr2="val2">text</item>	val1	Remains on the attr1 attribute node.

If the reader is positioned on a leaf node, calling ReadInnerXml is equivalent to calling Read. The method returns String.Empty (except for attribute nodes, in which case the value of the attribute is returned).

This method checks for well-formed XML. If ReadInnerXml is called from an XmlValidatingReader, this method also validates the content returned.

As implemented in the XmlNodeReader, XmlTextReader and XmlValidatingReader classes the ReadOuterXml method is namespace aware.

Examples

The following example compares the ReadInnerXml and ReadOuterXml methods.

Visual Basic

' Load the file and ignore all white space.
Dim settings As New XmlReaderSettings()
settings.IgnoreWhitespace = True
Using reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("2books.xml")

  ' Moves the reader to the root element.
  reader.MoveToContent()

  ' Moves to book node.
  reader.Read()

  ' Note that ReadInnerXml only returns the markup of the node's children
  ' so the book's attributes are not returned.
  Console.WriteLine("Read the first book using ReadInnerXml...")
  Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadInnerXml())

  ' ReadOuterXml returns the markup for the current node and its children
  ' so the book's attributes are also returned.
  Console.WriteLine("Read the second book using ReadOuterXml...")
  Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadOuterXml())

End Using

// Load the file and ignore all white space.
XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
settings.IgnoreWhitespace = true;
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("2books.xml")) {

  // Moves the reader to the root element.
  reader.MoveToContent();

  // Moves to book node.
  reader.Read(); 

  // Note that ReadInnerXml only returns the markup of the node's children
  // so the book's attributes are not returned.
  Console.WriteLine("Read the first book using ReadInnerXml...");
  Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadInnerXml());

  // ReadOuterXml returns the markup for the current node and its children
  // so the book's attributes are also returned.
  Console.WriteLine("Read the second book using ReadOuterXml...");
  Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadOuterXml());      

}

The example uses 2books.xml file as input.

<!--sample XML fragment-->
<bookstore>
  <book genre='novel' ISBN='10-861003-324'>
    <title>The Handmaid's Tale</title>
    <price>19.95</price>
  </book>
  <book genre='novel' ISBN='1-861001-57-5'>
    <title>Pride And Prejudice</title>
    <price>24.95</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

Platforms

Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information