How do I XML deserialize an array of arrays in c#?

Question

I am trying to deserialize an object of credit card bins for brand validation on a form, but can't get it done properly. Either the inside object doesn't deserialize, or the main list of brands comes null. Can anyone give me a hand or two?

My XML is like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Brands>
  <Brand type="visa">
    <Bins>
      <Bin enabled="true" value="123" />
      <Bin enabled="true" value="456" />
      <Bin enabled="true" value="789" />
    </Bins>
  </Brand>
  <Brand type="master">
    <Bins>
      <Bin enabled="true" value="987" />
      <Bin enabled="true" value="654" />
      <Bin enabled="true" value="321" />
    </Bins>
  </Brand>
</Brands>

and my latest code(which brings brandsCollection null ) is:

[XmlRoot("Brands")]
public class CreditCardBrand
{
    [XmlArray("Brands"), XmlArrayItem("Brand")]
    public CreditCardBrandCollection[] brandsCollection { get; set; }
}

public class CreditCardBrandCollection
{
    [XmlElement("Bins")]
    public CreditCardBrandBins[] binsCollection { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute("type")]
    public CreditCardBrands brand { get; set; }
}

public class CreditCardBrandBins
{
    [XmlAttribute("value")]
    public string bin { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute("enabled")]
    public bool enabled { get; set; }
}

I want to deserialize this xml into an array of Brands, each brand having a property name(type) and an array of bins(only the enabled ones) associated to them, so I can put it in memory at my system on startup.

Answer 1

It is actually very easy. You are just confusing — or, better to say, duplicating — the root element declaration and the way you attribute the brandsCollection array. You have to change the declaration as follows:

[XmlRoot("Brands")]
public class CreditCardBrand
{
    [XmlElement("Brand")]
    public CreditCardBrandCollection[] brandsCollection { get; set; }
}

Here [XmlElement] causes each element of the array to be represented by a single <Brand> tag. In you original code you described an XML which would have to look like this:

<Brands>
    <Brands> <!-- duplicate Brands element here -->
        <Brand type="…">…</Brand>
        <Brand type="…">…</Brand>
        <Brand type="…">…</Brand>
        …
    </Brands>
</Brands>

Answer 2

If you want to use Linq2Xml

XDocument xDoc = XDocument.Parse(xml); //or XDocument.Load(filename)
List<CreditCardBrand> brands =
            xDoc.Descendants("Brand")
            .Select(br => new CreditCardBrand()
            {
                Type = br.Attribute("type").Value,
                Bins = br.Descendants("Bin")
                            .Select(b => new CreditCardBin(){
                                Enabled = (bool)b.Attribute("enabled"),
                                Value = b.Attribute("value").Value,
                            }).Where(b => b.Enabled == true)
                            .ToList()

            })
            .ToList();

--

public class CreditCardBrand
{
    public string Type { get; set; }
    public List<CreditCardBin> Bins { get; set; }
}

public class CreditCardBin
{
    public string Value { get; set; }
    public bool Enabled { get; set; }
}