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Solved: How to fix the error when loading XML from text box with special characters

Problem Symptom

I have below code to generate/formatting XML from the content of a text box:

Dim xmlDoc As New XmlDocument
xmlDoc.LoadXml(Textbox)
Dim writer As New XmlTextWriter("C:\Work\xmlWriterTest.xml", Nothing)
writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
xmlDoc.Save(writer)

It works well, but when I have for example a special character like (&) character I get an error in LoadXml.

How can I fix this error or change encoding?

Follow the below solution steps to resolve the error when loading XML from text box with special characters.

There are few ways to handle it. One of the two methods below

Solution 1: Encode & Decode the XML data

'store it
xmlDoc.LoadXml(HttpServerUtility.HtmlEncode(Textbox))

'read it
Dim xmlDoc as New XmlDocument()
xmlDoc= XDocument.Parse(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(ResponseData))

Solution 2: Parse XML data wrap with CDAT

<![CDATA[
   characters with markup
]]>

Reference

Alex Lim is a certified IT Technical Support Architect with over 15 years of experience in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting complex IT systems and networks. He has worked for leading IT companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco, providing technical support and solutions to clients across various industries and sectors. Alex has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and a master’s degree in information security from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the author of several best-selling books on IT technical support, such as The IT Technical Support Handbook and Troubleshooting IT Systems and Networks. Alex lives in Bandar, Johore, Malaysia with his wife and two chilrdren. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Website | Twitter | Facebook

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