Question

I have a config.xml file that contains a SQL query. The query will end up getting read and performed in c#. However, I need to know how to write the query contained inside the XML element. The problem is that the query uses <= in a WHERE statement. The ‘<‘ part of the query causes the XML to think it is supposed to esacpe the element, I think. How can i include this basic select statement in the XML file? I noticed > works fine. Obviously, I could swap the order of the comparison, but I want to know how I can specifically include < please.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<root>
  <Connections>
   <Connection>
      <Source>Data Source=XXX-XXX; Initial Catalog=MyData;Integrated Security=True</Source>
      <Query>Select * FROM Info WHERE EffectiveDate <= GETDATE() </Query>
   </Connection>
  </Connections>
</root>

Answer 1

Use a CDATA block. Then you wouldn’t have to encode your query.

For example:

<Query><![CDATA[
Select * FROM Info WHERE EffectiveDate <= GETDATE()   
]]></Query>