{"<user xmlns=''> was not expected.} Deserializing Twitter XML

user_98409 0
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I'm pulling in the XML from Twitter via OAuth.

I'm doing a request to http://twitter.com/account/verify_credentials.xml, which returns the following XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<user>
  <id>16434938</id>
  <name>Lloyd Sparkes</name>
  <screen_name>lloydsparkes</screen_name>
  <location>Hockley, Essex, UK</location>
  <description>Student</description>
  <profile_image_url>http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/351849613/twitterProfilePhoto_normal.jpg</profile_image_url>
  <url>http://www.lloydsparkes.co.uk</url>
  <protected>false</protected>
  <followers_count>115</followers_count>
  <profile_background_color>9fdaf4</profile_background_color>
  <profile_text_color>000000</profile_text_color>
  <profile_link_color>220f7b</profile_link_color>
  <profile_sidebar_fill_color>FFF7CC</profile_sidebar_fill_color>
  <profile_sidebar_border_color>F2E195</profile_sidebar_border_color>
  <friends_count>87</friends_count>
  <created_at>Wed Sep 24 14:26:09 +0000 2008</created_at>
  <favourites_count>0</favourites_count>
  <utc_offset>0</utc_offset>
  <time_zone>London</time_zone>
  <profile_background_image_url>http://s.twimg.com/a/1255366924/images/themes/theme12/bg.gif</profile_background_image_url>
  <profile_background_tile>false</profile_background_tile>
  <statuses_count>1965</statuses_count>
  <notifications>false</notifications>
  <geo_enabled>false</geo_enabled>
  <verified>false</verified>
  <following>false</following>
  <status>
    <created_at>Mon Oct 12 19:23:47 +0000 2009</created_at>
    <id>4815268670</id>
    <text>&#187; @alexmuller your kidding? it should all be &quot;black tie&quot; dress code</text>
    <source>&lt;a href=&quot;http://code.google.com/p/wittytwitter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Witty&lt;/a&gt;</source>
    <truncated>false</truncated>
    <in_reply_to_status_id>4815131457</in_reply_to_status_id>
    <in_reply_to_user_id>8645442</in_reply_to_user_id>
    <favorited>false</favorited>
    <in_reply_to_screen_name>alexmuller</in_reply_to_screen_name>
    <geo/>
  </status>
</user>

I am using the following code to deserialize:

    public User VerifyCredentials()
    {
        string url = "http://twitter.com/account/verify_credentials.xml";
        string xml = _oauth.oAuthWebRequestAsString(oAuthTwitter.Method.GET, url, null);

        XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(User),"");

        MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xml));

        return (User)xs.Deserialize(ms);
    }

And I have the following for my User class:

 [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true)]
public partial class User
{

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "id")]       
    public long Id { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "name")] 
    public string Name { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "screen_name")]       
    public string ScreenName { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "location")]       
    public string Location { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "description")]      
    public string Description { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_image_url")]      
    public string ProfileImageUrl { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "url")]       
    public string Url { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "protected")]      
    public bool Protected { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "followers_count")]      
    public int FollowerCount { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_background_color")]       
    public string ProfileBackgroundColor { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_text_color")]       
    public string ProfileTextColor { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_link_color")]       
    public string ProfileLinkColor { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_sidebar_fill_color")]       
    public string ProfileSidebarFillColor { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_sidebar_border_color")]      
    public string ProfileSidebarBorderColor { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "friends_count")]     
    public int FriendsCount { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "created_at")]     
    public string CreatedAt { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "favourties_count")]      
    public int FavouritesCount { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "utc_offset")]      
    public int UtcOffset { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "time_zone")]       
    public string Timezone { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_background_image_url")]        
    public string ProfileBackgroundImageUrl { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "profile_background_tile")]        
    public bool ProfileBackgroundTile { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "statuese_count")]        
    public int StatusesCount { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "notifications")]       
    public string Notifications { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "geo_enabled")]       
    public bool GeoEnabled { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "Verified")]        
    public bool Verified { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "following")]
    public string Following { get; set; }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "status", IsNullable=true)]
    public Status CurrentStatus { get; set; }

}

But when it's deserializing the above XML the application throws the following:

$exception {"There is an error in XML document (2, 2)."} System.Exception {System.InvalidOperationException}

InnerException {"<user xmlns=''> was not expected."} System.Exception {System.InvalidOperationException}

Now I have searched around and the best solution I can find is to add blank namespaces to the serializer when you serialize the content, but i'm not serializing it so I can't.

I also have some code for receiving Statuses, which works fine.

So can someone explain to me why the error is happening? As well as a possible solution?

twitter xml-serialization c#
12 Answers

Even easier is just to add the following annotations to the top of your class:

[Serializable, XmlRoot("user")]
public partial class User
{
}
user_1196240

The error message is so vague, for me I had this code:

var streamReader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());
var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(aResponse));
theResponse = (bResponse) xmlSerializer.Deserialize(streamReader);

Notice xmlSerializer is instantiated with aResponse but on deserializing I accidentally casted it to bResonse.

user_4954550

The simplest and best solution is just to use XMLRoot attribute in your class, in which you wish to deserialize.

Like:

[XmlRoot(ElementName = "YourPreferableNameHere")]
public class MyClass{
...
}

Also, use the following Assembly :

using System.Xml.Serialization;
user_59552330

In my case, my xml had multiple namespaces and attributes. So I used this site to generate the objects - https://xmltocsharp.azurewebsites.net/

And used the below code to deserialize 

 XmlDocument doc =  new XmlDocument();
        doc.Load("PathTo.xml");
        User obj;
        using (TextReader textReader = new StringReader(doc.OuterXml))
        {
            using (XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(textReader))
            {
                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(User));
                obj = (User)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
            }
        }
user_3996240

As John Saunders says, check if the class/property names matches the capital casing of your XML. If this isn't the case, the problem will also occur.

user_2881700

My issue was that the root element actually has a xmlns="abc123"

So had to make XmlRoot("elementname",NameSpace="abc123")

user_1197410

Nothing worked for me for these errors EXCEPT

... was not expected, 
... there is an error in XML document (1,2)
... System.FormatException Input String was not in correct format ...

Except this way

1- You need to inspect the xml response as string (the response that you are trying to de-serialize to an object)

2- Use online tools for string unescape and xml prettify/formatter

3- MAKE SURE that the C# Class (main class) you are trying to map/deserialize the xml string to HAS AN XmlRootAttribute that matches the root element of the response.

Exmaple:

My XML Response was staring like :

<ShipmentCreationResponse xmlns="http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/">
       <Transaction i:nil="true" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
           ....

And the C# class definition + attributes was like :

[System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "4.0.0.0")]
[System.ServiceModel.MessageContractAttribute(WrapperName="ShipmentCreationResponse", WrapperNamespace="http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/", IsWrapped=true)]
public partial class ShipmentCreationResponse {
  .........
}

Note that the class definition does not have "XmlRootAttribute" 

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/", IsNullable = false)]

And when i try to de serialize using a generic method :

public static T Deserialize<T>(string input) where T : class
{
    System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer ser = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

    using (System.IO.StringReader sr = new System.IO.StringReader(input))
    {
        return (T)ser.Deserialize(sr);
    }
}





var _Response = GeneralHelper.XMLSerializer.Deserialize<ASRv2.ShipmentCreationResponse>(xml);

I was getting the errors above

... was not expected, ... there is an error in XML document (1,2) ...

Now by just adding the "XmlRootAttribute" that fixed the issue for ever and for every other requests/responses i had a similar issue with:

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/", IsNullable = false)]

..

[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true, Namespace = "http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "http://ws.aramex.net/ShippingAPI/v1/", IsNullable = false)]
public partial class ShipmentCreationResponse
{
    ........
}
user_15942740

All above not worked for me, but this was: Check that the name of Root element of class is exactly like the one from XML case sensitive.

user_26827130
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