Question

I have the following function:

Private Function XMLEncode(ByVal s As String) As String
        Return s.Replace("&", "&amp;").Replace("<", "&lt;").Replace(">", "&gt;").Replace("'", "&apos;").Replace("""", "&quot;").Replace("AMP",amp)
    End Function

but the above takes the string "TYNE & WEAR" and produces:

TYNE & WEAR

I just want it to be TYNE & WEAR

The xml is built with StringBuilder and that is what I am stuck with right now. I know .net takes care of this for you.

Answer 1

Update:

Private Function XMLEncode(ByVal s As String) As String
        s = Regex.Replace(s, "(?i)&", "&")   ' unescape escaped ones
        Return s.Replace("&", "&amp;").Replace("<", "&lt;").Replace(">", "&gt;").Replace("'", "&apos;").Replace("""", "&quot;")
    End Function

Instead of having this function yourself (and reinventing the wheel), you can use SecurityElement.Escape:

text = SecurityElement.Escape(s)

or HttpUtility.HtmlEncode (if you’re in ASP.Net)

text = HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(s)

Also, instead of StringBuilder, if you can switch to XmlTextWriter, then XmlTextWriter.WriteString() will do the escaping for you.