Problem with StringBuilder and XML Literals

Question

I'm having a problem using XML literals with a StringBuilder in VB 2008. If I use this code everything is fine.

Dim html As New System.Text.StringBuilder

html.Append(<html><body></body></html>)

MsgBox("hello")

Now the problem is I want to wrap HTML around something that is generated in code.

html.Append(<html><body>)

msgbox("nothing happens")

When the HTML doesn't have the corresponding ending tag, it acts like it goes beyond the ) and keeps looking for it.

Is there something I am doing wrong here?

n8wrl · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-29 18:18:58Z

2

I've never used VB's XML literals but I have built up a lot of XML. I like to use the StringWriter/XMLTextWriter classes:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter(sb))
{
    XmlTextWriter xw = new XmlTextWriter(sw);
    xw.WriteStartElement("html");
    xw.WriteStartElement("body");
    xw.WriteRaw(contentExp);
    ...
    wr.WriteEndElement();   // body
    wr.WriteEndElement();   // html
}
// do something with sb.ToString()?

answered May 29, 2009 at 18:18

n8wrl

19.9k4 gold badges70 silver badges106 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

John Christensen · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-29 18:35:20Z

1

Because you're not forming a proper XML in your XML Literal statement (in your case you're not closing your tags), you can't use XML Literals here. You either need to have your XML literals be proper XML, or alternatively convert your code to use them as strings. Thus:

html.Append("<html><body>")

msgbox("nothing happens")

answered May 29, 2009 at 18:35

John Christensen

5,0301 gold badge30 silver badges26 bronze badges

Comments

Larsenal · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-29 18:11:20Z

1

The obvious hunch would be that XML literals require well formed XML. If you want to wrap things, drop in an embedded expression as in...

html.Append(<html><body><%= contentExp %></body></html>)

answered May 29, 2009 at 18:11

Larsenal

51.5k43 gold badges155 silver badges224 bronze badges

Comments

Mark · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-29 18:51:24Z

1

Not an answer, but question back to you. What would be the value of using XML Literals with string builder. It seems at least to me that that goes against the grain. Create your XML using literals and then just get its string representation using the .ToString() method call if you need a string.

answered May 29, 2009 at 18:51

Mark

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Problem with StringBuilder and XML Literals

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related