Develop Reference

C# Serialization between Objects to XML

This is my first attempt at serializing an XML and I need to understand why errors occur in my code:
private void function(Object2 InputParameters)
{
XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("", "");
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Object1));
StringWriter XMLWriter = new StringWriter();
s.Serialize(XMLWriter, InputParameters, ns);
XmlDocument DOC_Xml = new XmlDocument();
DOC_Xml.LoadXml(XMLWriter.ToString());
}
InnerException:
{"An object of type 'SRV.Entities.Object2' cannot be converted to type 'SRV.Entities.Object1'."}
StackTrace:
" in System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, String encodingStyle, String id)\r\n in System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(TextWriter textWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces)\r\n "
The error line is at s.Serialize(XMLWriter, ParametrosEntrada, ns); but I don't understand the reason.
How could I solve the serialization between different objects?
Thank you, guys.

You have a bug
private void function(Object2 InputParameters)
and
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Object1));
you need
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Object2));
aka, you need to consistently have "Object2" as the input parameter AND the argument of "typeof".
More deeply, you can consider Generics. So you can pass the type is.... as needed . Either Object1 OR Object2. (but not both)
private void MyFunction<T>(T InputParameters)
{
XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("", "");
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
StringWriter XMLWriter = new StringWriter();
s.Serialize(XMLWriter, InputParameters, ns);
XmlDocument DOC_Xml = new XmlDocument();
DOC_Xml.LoadXml(XMLWriter.ToString());
}
You can see more at this SOF answer:
Using generics with XmlSerializer

Serialize to XML with SoapEnvelope in C#

I'm not very experienced with SOAP calls, so I'm struggling to get my requests to format correctly. I am creating an instance of my object (using the .wsdl file that was supplied) then serialize it using the below code. However, the object is not wrapped in a soap envelope tag which is causing my request to error. Does anyone know how I can modify this to wrap my object correctly?
public static string SerializeToXml<T>(T dataToSerialize)
{
if (dataToSerialize == null) return null;
using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter())
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
serializer.Serialize(stringWriter, dataToSerialize);
return stringWriter.ToString();
}
}

XML Deserialization C# gives error for valid document

I have a lot of XML files with the same structure. Many of them working OK, but for some XmlSerializer gives me an error but when I put the document in xml validator - it says that document is correct.
Deserialization code:
var document = serializer.Deserialize(File.OpenRead(file));
Error:
System.InvalidOperationException: There is an error in XML document (504, 8). ---> System.Xml.XmlException: Unexpected node type Element. ReadElementString method can only be called on elements with simple or empty content. Line 504, position 8.
at System.Xml.XmlReader.ReadElementString()
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderPatentdocument.Read33_Claimtext(Boolean isNullable, Boolean checkType)
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderPatentdocument.Read34_Claim(Boolean isNullable, Boolean checkType)
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderPatentdocument.Read35_Claims(Boolean isNullable, Boolean checkType)
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderPatentdocument.Read43_Patentdocument(Boolean isNullable, Boolean checkType)
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderPatentdocument.Read44_patentdocument()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader, String encodingStyle, XmlDeserializationEvents events)
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(Stream stream)
The part of the document where it gives the error:
<text>12. Führungsschiene nach einem der Ansprüche 2 bis 11, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß in den beiden Nutwänden (<b>11<i>a</i>, 11</b><i>a′)</i> einander gegenüberliegende Bohrungen (<b>14</b><i>a</i>, <b>14</b><i>a</i>′) vorgesehen sind, von denen die eine Bohrung (<b>14</b><i>a</i>′) durch das Einsatzteil (<b>15</b><i>a)</i> ver­schlossen ist.</text>
I suppose it is because of inline html tags inside because it complains about this line on position of i tag
<b>11<i>a</i>, 11</b>
But for example this xml is correct according to XmlSerializer and it is possible to deserialize it:
<text>9. Führungsschiene nach Anspruch 8, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Ansatz (<b>20</b>) die Zuführfläche (<b>25</b>) aufweist.</text>
So my question why xml validator says that the document is valid and XmlSerializer cannot deserialize it? Is it possible to have a workaround without changing the document?

You're right when you point at the inner HTML tags.
Your XML is not valid because you have tags inside a simple (text) element. XmlSerializer doesn't understand and throws an error.
If you have generated the XML files, you have to escape the data inside the simple elements beforehand :
with HTML Encode
Or by encapsulating it in a CDATA tag (<![CDATA[...]]>)

Try serializing the instance that is causing you problems. Then you can compare the output of the serialization with the contents of the file you are attempting to deserialize. The difference between the two XML strings will show you where the problem is.
Here is a quick function to serialize an instance of a class to XML:
public static string Serialize<T>(T entity)
{
if (entity == null)
return String.Empty;
try
{
XmlSerializer XS = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
System.IO.StringWriter SW = new System.IO.StringWriter();
XS.Serialize(SW, entity);
return SW.ToString();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Logging.Log(Severity.Error, "Unable to serialize entity", e);
return String.Empty;
}
}
If you haven't tried it yet, I would suggest the software BeyondCompare to easily see the difference between the two files.

Suppose we have the following class:
public class Foo
{
//[XmlIgnore]
public string Text { get; set; }
}
And xml of the following form:
<Foo xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<text>12. Führungsschiene nach einem der Ansprüche 2 bis 11, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß in den beiden Nutwänden (<b>11<i>a</i>, 11</b><i>a′)</i> einander gegenüberliegende Bohrungen (<b>14</b><i>a</i>, <b>14</b><i>a</i>′) vorgesehen sind, von denen die eine Bohrung (<b>14</b><i>a</i>′) durch das Einsatzteil (<b>15</b><i>a)</i> ver­schlossen ist.</text>
</Foo>
Then we can deserialize the data as follows.
var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Foo));
xs.UnknownElement += Xs_UnknownElement;
Foo foo;
using (var fs = new FileStream("test.txt", FileMode.Open))
{
foo = (Foo)xs.Deserialize(fs);
}
Subscribe XmlSerializer to UnknownElement event.
In the event handler manually set our property to the data.
private static void Xs_UnknownElement(object sender, XmlElementEventArgs e)
{
var foo = (Foo)e.ObjectBeingDeserialized;
foo.Text = e.Element.InnerXml;
}
Please note that the property name should not match the xml node name (case sensitive). Only in this case the event is triggered. If the names match, use the XmlIgnore attribute.

Save file - xmlSerializer

I'm creating a method to serialize a file using this code:
public void Save(Object file, Type type, String path)
{
// Create a new Serializer
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(type));
// Create a new StreamWriter
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(#path);
// Serialize the file
serializer.Serialize(writer, file);
// Close the writer
writer.Close();
}
But Visual Studio tells me this when I attempt to build:
"Error 1 The type or namespace name 'type' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) c:\users\erik\documents\visual studio 2013\Projects\FileSerializer\FileSerializer\Class1.cs 16 65 FileSerializer
"
Why is this?
**EDIT*
New code that works:
public void Save(Object file, String path, Type type)
{
// Create a new Serializer
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(type);
// Create a new StreamWriter
TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter(path);
// Serialize the file
serializer.Serialize(writer, file);
// Close the writer
writer.Close();
}
public object Read(String path, Type type)
{
// Create a new serializer
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(type);
// Create a StreamReader
TextReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
// Deserialize the file
Object file;
file = (Object)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
// Close the reader
reader.Close();
// Return the object
return file;
}
read by calling:
myClass newClass = (myClass)Read(file, type);
Save by calling:
Save(object, path, type);
Thanks!
Erik

Your error is in new XmlSerializer(typeof(type));. You don't need typeof. new XmlSerializer(type); is enough.
Since you serialize file object (and its type can be determined in the function) you don't have to pass its type. So your code can be re-written as
public void Save<T>(T file, String path)
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(path))
{
serializer.Serialize(writer, file);
}
}

var serializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(type);
instead of
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(type));

XmlSerializer takes a Type parameter. type is already of type Type, so you don't need to call typeof() on it. typeof() is only needed when you're putting a class name or generic parameter inside the brackets.

Deserialize xml to object from webapi

For reasons I wont' go into here, I can't use the object type as a parameter into my webapi controller. Therefore, I need to figure out a way to deserialize the xml object into my c# object using XmlDocument, or something similar.
Here's what I have so far:
public void Post(HttpRequestMessage request)
{
var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.Load(request.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync().Result);
using (XmlReader xmlReader = new XmlNodeReader(xmlDoc))
{
Object obj = new XmlSerializer(typeof(myObject)).Deserialize(xmlReader);
myObject scp = (myObject)obj;
}
}
unfortunately that's throwing errors. Can anyone provide some suggestion as to how I can deserialize my xml into my object?
tia
Edit: here's the xml I'm trying to deserialize:
<Student>
<studentid>1234</studentid>
<command>post</command>
<posttype>charge</posttype>
<transaction_description>This is a test post to the web api</transaction_description>
<payment_type>CC</payment_type>
<term_code>2013SPRING</term_code>
<amount>432.75</amount>
</Student>
and here's the error I'm getting:
System.InvalidOperationException: was not expected.
Generated: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:18:58 GMT
System.InvalidOperationException: There is an error in XML document
(1, 2). ---> System.InvalidOperationException: was
not expected. at
Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderStudentChargePost.Read3_StudentChargePost()
--- End of inner exception stack trace --- at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader
xmlReader, String encodingStyle, XmlDeserializationEvents events)
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(Stream stream)
at
CashNetSSO.Controllers.API.StudentInformationPostController.Post(HttpRequestMessage
request) in
C:\Projects\CashNetSSO\Development\CashNetSSO\CashNetSSO\Controllers\API\StudentInformationPostController.cs:line
23 at lambda_method(Closure , Object , Object[] ) at
System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.ActionExecutor.<>c_DisplayClassf.b_9(Object
instance, Object[] methodParameters) at
System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.ActionExecutor.Execute(Object
instance, Object[] arguments) at
System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.<>c_DisplayClass5.b_4()
at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskHelpers.RunSynchronously[TResult](Func`1
func, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

If you are already reading the content as a stream you can do the following:
myObject scp = null;
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(myObject);
using (Stream stream = request.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync().Result)
{
scp = serializer.Deserialize(stream);
}
Edit:
The reason you are getting the error is because the XmlSerializer is expecting an xml declaration tag. If your xml does not contain this you can define the root attribute like below:
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(myObject), new XmlRootAttribute("Student"));