Deserializing XML to Objects in C#

Justin_Bozonier_9401 0
Viewed 100090

So I have xml that looks like this: 

<todo-list>
  <id type="integer">#{id}</id>
  <name>#{name}</name>
  <description>#{description}</description>
  <project-id type="integer">#{project_id}</project-id>
  <milestone-id type="integer">#{milestone_id}</milestone-id>
  <position type="integer">#{position}</position>

  <!-- if user can see private lists -->
  <private type="boolean">#{private}</private>

  <!-- if the account supports time tracking -->
  <tracked type="boolean">#{tracked}</tracked>

  <!-- if todo-items are included in the response -->
  <todo-items type="array">
    <todo-item>
      ...
    </todo-item>
    <todo-item>
      ...
    </todo-item>
    ...
  </todo-items>
</todo-list>

How would I go about using .NET's serialization library to deserialize this into C# objects?

Currently I'm using reflection and I map between the xml and my objects using the naming conventions.

serialization .net c#
7 Answers

Create a class for each element that has a property for each element and a List or Array of objects (use the created one) for each child element. Then call System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize on the string and cast the result as your object. Use the System.Xml.Serialization attributes to make adjustments, like to map the element to your ToDoList class, use the XmlElement("todo-list") attribute.

A shourtcut is to load your XML into Visual Studio, click the "Infer Schema" button and run "xsd.exe /c schema.xsd" to generate the classes. xsd.exe is in the tools folder. Then go through the generated code and make adjustments, such as changing shorts to ints where appropriate.

user_234270

Boils down to using xsd.exe from tools in VS:

xsd.exe "%xsdFile%" /c /out:"%outDirectory%" /l:"%language%"

Then load it with reader and deserializer:

public GeneratedClassFromXSD GetObjectFromXML()
{
    var settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
    var obj = new GeneratedClassFromXSD();
    var reader = XmlReader.Create(urlToService, settings);
    var serializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(GeneratedClassFromXSD));
    obj = (GeneratedClassFromXSD)serializer.Deserialize(reader);

    reader.Close();
    return obj;
}
Steve_Horn_105890

Well, you'd have to have classes in your assembly that match, roughly, the XML (property called Private, a collection property called ToDo, etc).

The problem is that the XML has elements that are invalid for class names. So you'd have to implement IXmlSerializable in these classes to control how they are serialized to and from XML. You might be able to get away with using some of the xml serialization specific attributes as well, but that depends on your xml's schema.

That's a step above using reflection, but it might not be exactly what you're hoping for.

Admin1

There are a couple different options.

  • Visual Studio includes a command line program called xsd.exe. You use that program to create a schema document, and use the program again on the schema document to creates classes you can use with system.xml.serialization.xmlserializer
  • You might just be able to call Dataset.ReadXml() on it.
Joel_Coehoorn_30430
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