Indicates how the output is formatted.

[Visual Basic]
Public Property Formatting As Formatting
[C#]
public Formatting Formatting {get; set;}
[C++]
public: __property Formatting get_Formatting();
public: __property void set_Formatting(Formatting);
[JScript]
public function get Formatting() : Formatting;
public function set Formatting(Formatting);

Property Value

One of the Formatting values. The default is Formatting.None (no special formatting).

Remarks

If the Indented option is set, child elements are indented using the Indentation and IndentChar properties. Only element content will be indented. The following C# code writes out HTML elements including mixed content:

XmlTextWriter w = new XmlTextWriter(Console.Out); 
 w.Formatting = Formatting.Indented; 
 w.WriteStartElement("ol"); 
 w.WriteStartElement("li"); 
 w.WriteString("The big "); // This means "li" now has a mixed content model. 
 w.WriteElementString("b", "E"); 
 w.WriteElementString("i", "lephant"); 
 w.WriteString(" walks slowly."); 
 w.WriteEndElement(); 
 w.WriteEndElement();
   

The above code produces the following output:

<ol> 
  <li>The big <b>E</b><i>lephant</i> walks slowly.</li> 
</ol>
   

When this is viewed in HTML no white space appears between the bold and italic elements. In fact, in this example, if indenting was added between these elements the word "Elephant" would be incorrectly broken.

Note   Writing any text content, including String.Empty puts that element into mixed content mode. Child elements do not inherit this "mixed" mode status. A child element of a "mixed" element will do indenting, unless it is also contains "mixed" content. Element content (http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210#sec-element-content) and mixed content (http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210#sec-mixed-content) are defined according to the XML 1.0 definitions of these terms.

Example

[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following example writes an XML fragment.

[Visual Basic] 
Option Explicit
Option Strict

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

Public Class Sample
    
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        'Create a writer to write XML to the console.
        Dim writer As XmlTextWriter = Nothing
        writer = New XmlTextWriter(Console.Out)
        
        'Use indentation for readability.
        writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
        writer.Indentation = 4
        
        'Write an element (this one is the root).
        writer.WriteStartElement("book")
        
        'Write the title element.
        writer.WriteStartElement("title")
        writer.WriteString("Pride And Prejudice")
        writer.WriteEndElement()
        
        'Write the close tag for the root element.
        writer.WriteEndElement()
        
        'Write the XML to file and close the writer.
        writer.Close()
    End Sub 'Main 
End Class 'Sample

[C#] 
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample
{
  
  public static void Main()
  {
     //Create a writer to write XML to the console.
     XmlTextWriter writer = null;
     writer = new XmlTextWriter (Console.Out);

     //Use indentation for readability.
     writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
     writer.Indentation = 4;
        
     //Write an element (this one is the root).
     writer.WriteStartElement("book");

     //Write the title element.
     writer.WriteStartElement("title");
     writer.WriteString("Pride And Prejudice");
     writer.WriteEndElement();

     //Write the close tag for the root element.
     writer.WriteEndElement();
             
     //Write the XML to file and close the writer.
     writer.Close();  

  }

}

[C++] 
#using <mscorlib.dll>
#using <System.Xml.dll>
using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;

int main()
{
     //Create a writer to write XML to the console.
     XmlTextWriter* writer = 0;
     writer = new XmlTextWriter (Console::Out);

     //Use indentation for readability.
     writer->Formatting = Formatting::Indented;
     writer->Indentation = 4;
        
     //Write an element (this one is the root).
     writer->WriteStartElement(S"book");

     //Write the title element.
     writer->WriteStartElement(S"title");
     writer->WriteString(S"Pride And Prejudice");
     writer->WriteEndElement();

     //Write the close tag for the root element.
     writer->WriteEndElement();
             
     //Write the XML to file and close the writer.
     writer->Close();  

}

[JScript] No example is available for JScript. To view a Visual Basic, C#, or C++ example, click the Language Filter button in the upper-left corner of the page.

Requirements

Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family, .NET Compact Framework, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard

See Also

XmlTextWriter Class | XmlTextWriter Members | System.Xml Namespace | Formatting