Empty xmlns issue

[MattP]

I'm converting the Strokes collection from a Silverlight InkPresenter to xml so I can save it in an nvarchar(MAX) column in a SQL database.

Everything works correctly except in every <Stroke> tag I get an empty xmlns which blows up the XamlReader when I'm trying to load it.

I've gotten around the empty xmlns by doing a String.Replace before I return but this just screams 'you're doing it wrong!'

If anyone has any insight to the correct way of resolving this it would be appreciated.

    Private Function StrokesToXaml(ByVal presenter As InkPresenter) As String
        Dim doc = <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
                  <StrokeCollection xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
                      <%= From stroke In presenter.Strokes _
                          Select <Stroke>
                                     <Stroke.DrawingAttributes>
                                         <DrawingAttributes Width=<%= stroke.DrawingAttributes.Width.ToString() %>
                                             Height=<%= stroke.DrawingAttributes.Height.ToString() %>
                                             Color=<%= String.Format("#{0:X2}{1:X2}{2:X2}{3:X2}", _
                                                       stroke.DrawingAttributes.Color.A, _
                                                       stroke.DrawingAttributes.Color.R, _
                                                       stroke.DrawingAttributes.Color.G, _
                                                       stroke.DrawingAttributes.Color.B) %>
                                             OutlineColor=<%= String.Format("#{0:X2}{1:X2}{2:X2}{3:X2}", _
                                                              stroke.DrawingAttributes.OutlineColor.A, _
                                                              stroke.DrawingAttributes.OutlineColor.R, _
                                                              stroke.DrawingAttributes.OutlineColor.G, _
                                                              stroke.DrawingAttributes.OutlineColor.B) %>/>
                                     </Stroke.DrawingAttributes>
                                     <Stroke.StylusPoints>
                                         <StylusPointCollection>
                                             <%= From sp In stroke.StylusPoints _
                                                 Select <StylusPoint X=<%= sp.X.ToString() %> Y=<%= sp.Y.ToString() %>/> %>
                                         </StylusPointCollection>
                                     </Stroke.StylusPoints>
                                 </Stroke> %>
                  </StrokeCollection>

        Dim sw As New IO.StringWriter
        doc.Save(sw)
        Return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString().Replace(" xmlns=" & ControlChars.Quote & ControlChars.Quote, "")
    End Function