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Asked: 2026-05-25T20:32:55+00:00

I’m using System.Xml to create an XML document in C# My question is hopefully

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I’m using System.Xml to create an XML document in C#

My question is hopefully a simple one, do I need to use the WriteEndElement to close an XML tag?

For example, I have found that the following code will compile with or without ‘writer.WriteEndElement();’ and produce the same XML either way, however if I put ‘writer.WriteEndElement();’ twice, the program throws an exception.

writer.WriteStartElement("CustomerNo");
writer.WriteString("12345");
writer.WriteEndElement();

I’m not lazy and don’t mind putting this in where it needs to be if this is how it’s supposed to be, I just need some guidance here.

Thanks

John

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Generally speaking: Yes, for each WriteStartElement() there must be a matching WriteEndElement().

    Think of the containment hierarchy as a stack – the Starts (“pushes”) and Ends (“pops”) must balance. If you try to “pop” beyond the end, it’s a failure and an exception is thrown, like you describe.

    As an example, to write a B element within the A element:

    WriteStartElement("A");
WriteStartElement("B");
// ... attributes or content added here will become part af B element
WriteEndElement(); // Closes the open B element.
WriteEndElement(); // Closes the open A element.

    Update: As @Sam points out in another answer, when – as in the example you give – you want to only write out simple content elements (no attributes or child elements), you may want to take a look at the convenience method WriteElementString(), which automatically wraps the content in start/end tags.

    Hope this helps.

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