How to best detect encoding in XML file?
Ok, I should have thought of this earlier. Both XmlTextReader (which gives us the Encoding) and XmlReader.Create (which allows us to specify encoding) accepts a Stream. So how about first opening a FileStream and then use this with both XmlTextReader and XmlReader, like this:
using (var txtreader = new FileStream(filepath, FileMode.Open))
{
using (var xmlreader = new XmlTextReader(txtreader))
{
// Read in the encoding info
xmlreader.MoveToContent();
var encoding = xmlreader.Encoding;
// Rewind to the beginning
txtreader.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
var settings = new XmlReaderSettings { NameTable = new NameTable() };
var xmlns = new XmlNamespaceManager(settings.NameTable);
var context = new XmlParserContext(null, xmlns, "", XmlSpace.Default,
encoding);
using (var reader = XmlReader.Create(txtreader, settings, context))
{
return XElement.Load(reader);
}
}
}
This works like a charm. Reading XML files in an encoding independent way should have been more elegant but at least I'm getting away with only one file open.