How do I prevent '&' to convert in '&amp' while xml serialization in ASP.NET Web API? -

i creating booking service using asp.net web api,

for response model this:

[xmlroot("ratelist")] public class ratelist {     [xmlelement("rate")]     public list<rate> rate { get; set; }  } public class rate {     [xmlattribute("code")]     public string code { get; set; }     [xmlattribute("errormessage")]     public string errormessage { get; set; }      [xmlelement("roomrate")]     public list<roomrate> roomrate { get; set; } } public class roomrate {     [xmlattribute("url")]     public string url { get; set; } } 

response must of xml format, have serialized of below,

return request.createresponse<ratelist>(httpstatuscode.ok, objratelist, configuration.formatters.xmlformatter); 

my global.asax file

webapiconfig.register(globalconfiguration.configuration);         var xml = globalconfiguration.configuration.formatters.xmlformatter;         xml.usexmlserializer = true; 

the actual response must this:

<ratelist      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema-instance"      xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema">     <rate code="174511">         <roomrate url="https://somedomain.com/planning/booking?start=2015-06-02&end=2015-06-04&id=174511&adults=2&childages=0&room=1"/> </rate> </ratelist> 

but receive response of below, in "&" changes "&":

<ratelist      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema-instance"      xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema">     <rate code="174511">         <roomrate url="https://somedoamin.com/planning/booking?start=2015-06-02&amp;end=2015-06-04&amp;id=174511&amp;adults=2&amp;childages=0&amp;room=1"/> </rate> </ratelist> 

how avoid change in response ?

thanks in advance.

this correct behaviour. if not escaped, xml ill-formed (that is, parser must report error , fail parse it). if want generate xml, have escape & characters.

the value of attributes contains &. way represent it, lexically, in xml write &. if parse xml , ask, say, value of attribute string, see has been decoded parser.

you can think way escape special characters in java or c++ string, using backslashes. string value not contain backslash, have use them represent lexically special characters.