Deserializing XML to Objects in C#

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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;
}

Answer 3

Deserialize any object, as long as the type T is marked Serializable:

function T Deserialize<T>(string serializedResults)
{
    var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
    using (var stringReader = new StringReader(serializedResults))
        return (T)serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
}

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

Checkout http://xsd2code.codeplex.com/

Xsd2Code is a CSharp or Visual Basic Business Entity class Generator from XSD schema.

Answer 6

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.

Answer 7

You should have a look at http://www.canerten.com/xml-c-class-generator-for-c-using-xsd-for-deserialization/

There's a (Microsoft) tool that helps creating the needed XSD to properly deserialize XML into an object

Answer 8

i had the same questions few years back that how abt mapping xml to C# classes or creating C# classes which are mapped to our XMLs, jst like we do in entity Framework (we map tables to C# classes). I created a framework finally, which can create C# classes out of your XML and these classes can be used to read/write your xml. Have a look