How to prevent XDocument from adding XML version and encoding information

Question

Despite using the SaveOptions.DisableFormatting option in the following code:

XDocument xmlDoc = XDocument.Load(FileManager.SourceFile); 
string element="campaign";
string attribute="id";

var items = from item in xmlDoc.Descendants(element)                        
            select item;

foreach (XElement itemAttribute in items)
{
    itemAttribute.SetAttributeValue(attribute, "it worked!");
    //itemElement.SetElementValue("name", "Lord of the Rings Figures");
}

xmlDoc.Save(TargetFile, SaveOptions.DisableFormatting);

the target XML file gets this added to it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

Is there a way to preserve the original formatting and not have the version and encoding information added?

Permeability

That's not formatting. It's part of the document. What problem causes you to want that removed? – Congregate

I'm trying to create synthetic data using existing XML files that omit that portion. Aside from my alterations I'd like the resulting XML files to be as close to the original as possible. – Permeability

No code should have a problem with having these directives in place. If any code cares about it, then it is broken and should be fixed ASAP. – Congregate

Infopath Sharepoint integration uses XML files that sometimes require no XML declaration. That's Microsoft code. – Sen

Answer 1

That's the behaviour of the XDocument.Save method when serializing to a file or a TextWriter. If you want to omit the XML declaration, you can either use XmlWriter (as shown below) or call ToString. Refer to Serializing with an XML Declaration.

XDocument xmlDoc = XDocument.Load(FileManager.SourceFile); 

// perform your modifications on xmlDoc here

XmlWriterSettings xws = new XmlWriterSettings { OmitXmlDeclaration = true };
using (XmlWriter xw = XmlWriter.Create(targetFile, xws))
    xmlDoc.Save(xw);

Underwent