XmlNode.InnerXml Property (System.Xml)

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.NET Framework Class Library

XmlNode.InnerXml Property

Gets or sets the markup representing only the child nodes of this node.

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

Syntax

Visual Basic

Public Overridable Property InnerXml As String
	Get
	Set

public virtual string InnerXml { get; set; }

Visual C++

public:
virtual property String^ InnerXml {
	String^ get ();
	void set (String^ value);
}

abstract InnerXml : string with get, set
override InnerXml : string with get, set

Property Value

Type: System.String
The markup of the child nodes of this node.

Note
InnerXml does not return default attributes.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
InvalidOperationException	Setting this property on a node that cannot have child nodes.
XmlException	The XML specified when setting this property is not well-formed.

Remarks

Attempting to set this property from a node that cannot have child nodes, for example a Text node, throws an exception. Otherwise, setting InnerXml replaces the child nodes, of the node, with the parsed contents of the given string. The parsing is done in the current namespace context.

This property is a Microsoft extension to the Document Object Model (DOM).

Note
InnerXml is not an efficient way to modify the DOM. There may be performance issues when replacing complex nodes. It is more efficient to construct nodes and use methods such as InsertBefore, InsertAfter, AppendChild, and RemoveChild to modify the Xml document.

Examples

The following example compares the InnerText and InnerXml properties.

Visual Basic


Imports System
Imports System.Xml

public class Test

  public shared sub Main()

    Dim doc as XmlDocument = new XmlDocument()
    doc.LoadXml("<root>"& _
                "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>" & _
                "</root>")

    Dim elem as XmlNode = doc.DocumentElement.FirstChild

    ' Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerText of the element...")
    Console.WriteLine( elem.InnerText )

    ' InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerXml of the element...")
    Console.WriteLine(elem.InnerXml)

    ' Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.  
    ' The markup is escaped.
    elem.InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped."
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml )

    ' Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.  
    ' The markup is not escaped.
    elem.InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>."
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml )

  end sub
end class


using System;
using System.Xml;
public class Test {

  public static void Main() {
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
    doc.LoadXml("<root>"+
                "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>" +
                "</root>");

    XmlNode elem = doc.DocumentElement.FirstChild;

    // Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerText of the element...");
    Console.WriteLine( elem.InnerText );

    // InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
    Console.WriteLine("Display the InnerXml of the element...");
    Console.WriteLine(elem.InnerXml);

    // Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.  
    // The markup is escaped.
    elem.InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped.";
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml );

    // Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.  
    // The markup is not escaped.
    elem.InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>.";
    Console.WriteLine( elem.OuterXml );
  }
}

Visual C++


#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   XmlDocument^ doc = gcnew XmlDocument;
   doc->LoadXml( "<root>"
   "<elem>some text<child/>more text</elem>"
   "</root>" );
   XmlNode^ elem = doc->DocumentElement->FirstChild;

   // Note that InnerText does not include the markup.
   Console::WriteLine( "Display the InnerText of the element..." );
   Console::WriteLine( elem->InnerText );

   // InnerXml includes the markup of the element.
   Console::WriteLine( "Display the InnerXml of the element..." );
   Console::WriteLine( elem->InnerXml );

   // Set InnerText to a string that includes markup.  
   // The markup is escaped.
   elem->InnerText = "Text containing <markup/> will have char(<) and char(>) escaped.";
   Console::WriteLine( elem->OuterXml );

   // Set InnerXml to a string that includes markup.  
   // The markup is not escaped.
   elem->InnerXml = "Text containing <markup/>.";
   Console::WriteLine( elem->OuterXml );
}

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

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

Reference

XmlNode Class

System.Xml Namespace