How to NOT write XML with pretty print from C# DataSet

Question

In C# how do you write a DataSet to file without it being written with pretty print?

Using C# and .NET 2.0, I've been using dataSet.WriteXml(fileName, XmlWriteMode.IgnoreSchema), which by default is writing the Xml file with pretty print. The company consuming the Xml files I write suggested that writing without the pretty print will not affect them, and will significantly decrease the size of the files. With a little playing around in the System.Xml namespace, I did find a solution. However, in my searching I did not find the answer anywhere, so I thought it might be helpful to someone else in the future if I posted the question. Also, I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's a better or at least different way of accomplishing this.

For those that don't know (I didn't until today), Xml "pretty print" is:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<NewDataSet>
  <Foo>
    <Bar>abc</Bar>
  </Foo>
</NewDataSet>

Without pretty print it looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><NewDataSet><Foo><Bar>abc</Bar></Foo></NewDataSet>

Additionally, the size savings was significant, 70mb files are becoming about 40mb. I'll post my solution later today if no one else has.

Answer 1

If it's not possible to influence the formatting of the dataset xml, I'd just load the xml into a new XMLDocument and send the XMLDocument.OuterXml which is formatting free.

Answer 2

This is what I would try...:

EDIT: (does not compile, settings need to be added in XmlWriter.Create constructor - but the theory is there.)

DataSet ds = new DataSet();
System.Xml.XmlTextWriter xmlW = new System.Xml.XmlTextWriter("C:\\temp\\dataset.xml");
System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings settings = new System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings();
settings.Indent = false;
settings.NewLineChars = String.Empty;
xmlW.Settings = settings;
ds.WriteXml(xmlW);

Answer 3

It's pretty simple, you just have to create an XmlWriter using an XmlWriterSettings which has the Indent property set to false:

// The memory stream for the backing.
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
  // The settings for the XmlWriter.
  XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();

  // Do not indent.
  settings.Indent = false;

  // Create the XmlWriter.
  using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(ms, settings))
  {
     // Write the data set to the writer.
     dataSet.WriteXml(xmlWriter);
  }
}

Answer 4

Even easier than using XmlWriterSettings:

XmlTextWriter xml = new XmlTextWriter(fileName, Encoding.UTF8) 
    { Formatting = Formatting.None };
dataSet.WriteXml(xml);