How to return an XML string as an action result in MVC [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What is the best way to return XML from a controller's action in ASP.NET MVC?

I'm able to return JSON and partial views (html) as a valid ActionResult, but how would one return an XML string?

Answer 1

You could use return this.Content(xmlString, "text/xml"); to return a built XML string from an action.

Answer 2

For JSON/XML I have written an XML/JSON Action Filter that makes it very easy to tackle without handling special cases in your action handler (which is what you seem to be doing).

Answer 3

Another way to do this is by using XDocument:

using System.Xml.Linq;

public XDocument ExportXml()
{
    Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml");

    return XDocument.Parse("<xml>...");
}

Answer 4

If you're building the XML using Linq-to-XML then check out my answer here. It allows you to write code like this:

public ActionResult MyXmlAction()
{
    var xml = new XDocument(
        new XElement("root",
            new XAttribute("version", "2.0"),
            new XElement("child", "Hello World!")));

    return new XmlActionResult(xml);
}