Since I originally posted my XmlOutput class I’ve received lots of great feedback. I’m happy that many of you have found it useful. I have been using the class myself for most of my xml writing requirements lately (in appropriate scenarios) and I’ve ended up augmenting it a little bit. Nothing major, just a couple of helpful changes. https://imp…

XMLoutput.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml;

namespace Improve.Framework.Xml
{
	public class XmlOutput : IDisposable
	{
		// The internal XmlDocument that holds the complete structure.
		XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();

		// A stack representing the hierarchy of nodes added. nodeStack.Peek() will always be the current node scope.
		Stack<XmlNode> nodeStack = new Stack<XmlNode>();

		// Whether the next node should be created in the scope of the current node.
		bool nextNodeWithin;

		// The current node. If null, the current node is the XmlDocument itself.
		XmlNode currentNode;

		// Whether the Xml declaration has been added to the document
		bool xmlDeclarationHasBeenAdded = false;

		/// <summary>
		/// Overrides ToString to easily return the current outer Xml
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public override string ToString()
		{
			return GetOuterXml();
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Returns the string representation of the XmlDocument.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns>A string representation of the XmlDocument.</returns>
		public string GetOuterXml()
		{
			return xd.OuterXml;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Returns the XmlDocument
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public XmlDocument GetXmlDocument()
		{
			return xd;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Changes the scope to the current node.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput Within()
		{
			nextNodeWithin = true;

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Changes the scope to the parent node.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput EndWithin()
		{
			if (nextNodeWithin)
				nextNodeWithin = false;
			else
				nodeStack.Pop();

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Adds an XML declaration with the most common values.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput XmlDeclaration() { return XmlDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", ""); }

		/// <summary>
		/// Adds an XML declaration to the document.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="version">The version of the XML document.</param>
		/// <param name="encoding">The encoding of the XML document.</param>
		/// <param name="standalone">Whether the document is standalone or not. Can be yes/no/(null || "").</param>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput XmlDeclaration(string version, string encoding, string standalone)
		{
			// We can't add an XmlDeclaration once nodes have been added, as the standard declaration will already have been added
			if (nodeStack.Count > 0)
				throw new InvalidOperationException("Cannot add XmlDeclaration once nodes have been added to the XmlOutput.");

			// Create & add the XmlDeclaration
			XmlDeclaration xdec = xd.CreateXmlDeclaration(version, encoding, standalone);
			xd.AppendChild(xdec);

			xmlDeclarationHasBeenAdded = true;

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Creates a node. If no nodes have been added before, it'll be the root node, otherwise it'll be appended as a child of the current node.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name">The name of the node to create.</param>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput Node(string name)
		{
			XmlNode xn = xd.CreateElement(name);

			// If nodeStack.Count == 0, no nodes have been added, thus the scope is the XmlDocument itself.
			if (nodeStack.Count == 0)
			{
				// If an XmlDeclaration has not been added, add the standard declaration
				if (!xmlDeclarationHasBeenAdded)
					XmlDeclaration();

				// Add the child element to the XmlDocument directly
				xd.AppendChild(xn);

				// Automatically change scope to the root DocumentElement.
				nodeStack.Push(xn);
			}
			else
			{
				// If this node should be created within the scope of the current node, change scope to the current node before adding the node to the scope element.
				if (nextNodeWithin)
				{
					nodeStack.Push(currentNode);

					nextNodeWithin = false;
				}

				nodeStack.Peek().AppendChild(xn);
			}

			currentNode = xn;

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Sets the InnerText of the current node using CData.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="text"></param>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public XmlOutput InnerText(object text)
		{
			return InnerText(text.ToString(), true);
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Sets the InnerText of the current node.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="text">The text to set.</param>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput InnerText(object text, bool useCData)
		{
			if (useCData)
				currentNode.AppendChild(xd.CreateCDataSection(text.ToString()));
			else
				currentNode.AppendChild(xd.CreateTextNode(text.ToString()));

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Adds an attribute to the current node.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name">The name of the attribute.</param>
		/// <param name="value">The value of the attribute.</param>
		/// <returns>this</returns>
		public XmlOutput Attribute(string name, object value)
		{
			XmlAttribute xa = xd.CreateAttribute(name);
			xa.Value = value.ToString();

			currentNode.Attributes.Append(xa);

			return this;
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Same as calling EndWithin directly, allows for using the using statement
		/// </summary>
		public void Dispose()
		{
			EndWithin();
		}
	}
}