How do I set the Settings property in XmlTextWriter, so that I can write each XML attribute on its own line?

Question

I have this bit of code, which serializes an object to a file. I'm trying to get each XML attribute to output on a separate line. The code looks like this:

public static void ToXMLFile(Object obj, string filePath)
{
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());

    XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
    settings.NewLineOnAttributes = true;

    XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter(filePath, Encoding.UTF8);
    writer.Settings = settings; // Fails here.  Property is read only.

    using (Stream baseStream = writer.BaseStream)
    {
        serializer.Serialize(writer, obj);
    }
}

The only problem is, the Settings property of the XmlTextWriter object is read-only.

How do I set the Settings property on the XmlTextWriter object, so that the NewLineOnAttributes setting will work?

---

Well, I thought I needed an XmlTextWriter, since XmlWriter is an abstract class. Kinda confusing if you ask me. Final working code is here:

/// <summary>
/// Serializes an object to an XML file; writes each XML attribute to a new line.
/// </summary>
public static void ToXMLFile(Object obj, string filePath)
{
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());

    XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
    settings.Indent = true;
    settings.NewLineOnAttributes = true;

    using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(filePath, settings))
    {
        serializer.Serialize(writer, obj);
    }
}

Shillong

Answer 1

Use the static Create() method of XmlWriter.

XmlWriter.Create(filePath, settings);

Note that you can set the NewLineOnAttributes property in the settings.

Pieplant

It didn't instantiate. It says it executed, but the object so created is null. Note: I used XmlTextWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(filePath, settings) as XmlTextWriter; – Shillong

@RobertHarvey - That means that XmlWriter.Create(...) doesn't create a XmlTextWriter. When you look at the output, you'll find that it returns a XmlWellFormedWriter. It would be wise though to treat it like an XmlWriter. – Pieplant

So how do I get it to an XmlTextWriter? – Shillong

Never mind, got it working, thanks. You were right, I just needed an XmlWriter. The XmlWriter class is an abstract class, but you can create instances of it anyway. And the instances so created are called something else. That's just bizarre. – Shillong

Answer 2

I know the question is old, anyway it's actually possible to set indentation for the XMLTextWriter. Unlike with the XMLwriter, you don't have to pass through the settings; you should use the Formatting property:

XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter(filePath, Encoding.UTF8);
w.Formatting = Formatting.Indented; 

See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmltextwriter.formatting(v=vs.110).aspx

Triangle