Develop Reference

Tricks for deserialize this xml element

A legacy application transmits data as xml elements.
<frame>
<reply>
<id>value_id</id>
<resultCode>value</resultCode>
<readSampleIDs>
<returnValue>
<Sample>
<SampleID> value_SampleID </SampleID>
<SamplePC> value_SamplePC </SamplePC>
<antennaName> value_antennaName </antennaName>
<channel> value_channel </channel>
<power> value_power </power>
<polarization> value_polarization </polarization>
<inventoried> value_inventoried </inventoried>
</Sample>
…
<Sample>
…
</Sample>
</returnValue>
</readSampleIDs>
</reply>
Currently the information is extracted parsing the string word by word.
I think that xml element can be deserialized into an object directly with XmlSerializer but I have some doubts on how to do it.
The element frame contains only one reply. Do I really need two different classes ?
Inside returnValue there can be zero or more Sample. In my class what is the correct type, List<Sample> or Sample[] ? Is there a real difference between the two options during deserialization ?
Most fields inside Sample are optional. How do I model this ?
When an object is serialized with XmlSerializer information about xml version and additional attributes on root element are automatically added such as:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PurchaseOrder xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://www.cpandl.com">
They are not present in my example code so I'm afraid deserialization can complain about it and possibly fail.
Thanks
Filippo

If your xml contains a namespace (like in your example) then you can use these classes:
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "Sample")]
public class Sample
{
[XmlElement(ElementName = "SampleID")]
public string SampleID { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "SamplePC")]
public string SamplePC { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "antennaName")]
public string AntennaName { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "channel")]
public string Channel { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "power")]
public string Power { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "polarization")]
public string Polarization { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "inventoried")]
public string Inventoried { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "readSampleIDs")]
public class ReadSampleIDs
{
[XmlArray(ElementName = "returnValue")]
[XmlArrayItem(ElementName = "Sample")]
public List<Sample> Sample { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "reply", Namespace = "http://www.cpandl.com")]
public class Reply
{
[XmlElement(ElementName = "id")]
public string Id { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "resultCode")]
public string ResultCode { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = "readSampleIDs")]
public ReadSampleIDs ReadSampleIDs { get; set; }
}
If you are only interested in node reply and this is the only one. You can deserialize only this node:
XNamespace loNameSpace = "http://www.cpandl.com";
XDocument loDoc = XDocument.Parse(Properties.Settings.Default.TransmitsData);
var loReplyElement = loDoc.Element(loNameSpace.GetName("PurchaseOrder"))
.Element(loNameSpace.GetName("frame"))
.Element(loNameSpace.GetName("reply"));
using (var loReader = loReplyElement.CreateReader())
{
var loSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Reply));
var loReply = (Reply)loSerializer.Deserialize(loReader);
Console.WriteLine(loReply.Id);
}

XML Deserialization error: xxxxx was not expected

I know there are several posts out there with this topic, but I can't seem to figure out what is the problem here. I have serialized and deserialized xml several times, and never had this error.
The exception message is:
There is an error in XML document (1, 2).
With InnerException:
<InvoiceChangeRequest xmlns=''> was not expected.
XML file I want to deserialize:
<ns1:InvoiceChangeRequest xmlns:ns1="http://kmd.dk/fie/external_invoiceDistribution">
<CONTROL_FIELDS>
<STRUCTURID>0000000001</STRUCTURID>
<OPERA>GET</OPERA>
<WIID>000050371220</WIID>
</CONTROL_FIELDS>
<HEADER_IN>
<MANDT>751</MANDT>
<BELNR>1234567890</BELNR>
</HEADER_IN>
<ITEMS>
<ITEM_FIELDS_IN>
<BUZEI>001</BUZEI>
<BUKRS>0020</BUKRS>
</ITEM_FIELDS_IN>
</ITEMS>
</ns1:InvoiceChangeRequest>
Class I'm trying to deserialize to:
[XmlRoot(Namespace = "http://kmd.dk/fie/external_invoiceDistribution", IsNullable = false)]
public class InvoiceChangeRequest
{
[XmlElement("CONTROL_FIELDS")] public ControlFields Styrefelter;
[XmlElement("HEADER_IN")] public HeaderIn HeaderfelterInd;
[XmlElement("ITEMS")] public Items Linjer;
}
public class HeaderIn
{
[XmlElement("MANDT")] public string Kommunenummer;
[XmlElement("BELNR")] public string RegnskabsbilagsNummer;
}
public class Items
{
[XmlElement("ITEM_FIELDS_IN")] public Itemfield[] ItemfelterInd;
}
public class Itemfield
{
[XmlElement("BUZEI")] public string Linjenummer;
[XmlElement("BUKRS")] public string Firmakode;
}
Deserialization code:
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(InvoiceChangeRequest));
var request = serializer.Deserialize(new StringReader(output)) as InvoiceChangeRequest;

In your XML file your root element is the namespace http://kmd.dk/fie/external_invoiceDistribution with prefix ns1.
The element <CONTROL_FIELDS> isn't because it isn't prefixed. Your serialization class doesn't take this into account though. That means that it expects that <CONTROL_FIELDS> and the other elements are ALSO in the ns1 namespace.
To get the serializer parse the elements correctly add the Namespace to the elements, setting it to an empty string:
[XmlRoot(Namespace = "http://kmd.dk/fie/external_invoiceDistribution", IsNullable = false)]
public class InvoiceChangeRequest
{
[XmlElement("CONTROL_FIELDS", Namespace = "")]
public ControlFields Styrefelter { get; set; }
[XmlElement("HEADER_IN", Namespace = "")]
public HeaderIn HeaderfelterInd { get; set; }
[XmlElement("ITEMS", Namespace = "")]
public Items Linjer { get; set; }
}
This will de-serialize the given XML as intended.
In case of de-serialization issues I often create the classes in memory and then serialize that so I can inspect the resulting XML. That often gives clues on what is missing or being added compared to the input document:
var ms = new MemoryStream();
serializer.Serialize(ms, new InvoiceChangeRequest {
Styrefelter = new ControlFields { Opera="test"}
});
var s = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(ms.ToArray());
And then inspect s for differences.

You can replace 'ns1:' with string.Empty.
Below classes should serialize.
public class Item
{
[XmlElement("BUZEI")]
public string Buzei { get; set; }
[XmlElement("BUKRS")]
public string Bukrs { get; set; }
}
public class Header
{
[XmlElement("MANDT")]
public string Mandt { get; set; }
[XmlElement("BELNR")]
public string Belnr { get; set; }
}
public class ControlFields
{
[XmlElement("STRUCTURID")]
public string StructuredId { get; set; }
[XmlElement("OPERA")]
public string Opera { get; set; }
[XmlElement("WIID")]
public string Wild { get; set; }
}
public class InvoiceChangeRequest
{
[XmlElement("CONTROL_FIELDS")]
public ControlFields ControlFields { get; set; }
[XmlElement("HEADER_IN")]
public Header Header { get; set; }
[XmlArray("ITEMS")]
[XmlArrayItem("ITEM_FIELDS_IN")]
public List<Item> Items { get; set; }
}

how to deserialize xml to list in RestSharp?

My XML:
<result>
<document version="2.1.0">
<response type="currency">
<currency>
<code>AMD</code>
<price>85.1366</price>
</currency>
</response>
<response type="currency">
<currency>
<code>AUD</code>
<price>31.1207</price>
</currency>
</response>
</document>
</result>
My Class:
public class CurrencyData
{
public string Code { get; set; }
public string Price { get; set; }
}
My deserializer calling:
RestClient.ExecuteAsync<List<CurrencyData>>...
If i renamed class CurrencyData to Currency then all will been done right. But I want to keep this class name.

Ok, I think I got it,
You can try RestClient.ExecuteAsync<Result>()
[XmlRoot("result")]
public class Result
{
[XmlElement("document")]
public Document Document { get; set; }
}
public class Document
{
[XmlElement("response")]
public Response[] Responses { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("version")]
public string Version { get; set; }
}
public class Response
{
[XmlElement("currency")]
public CurrencyData Currency { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("type")]
public string Type { get; set; }
}
public class CurrencyData
{
[XmlElement("code")]
public string Code { get; set; }
[XmlElement("price")]
public decimal Price { get; set; }
}
I had to add a few XmlElement attribute to override the casing without having to name classes and properties in lowercase. but you can drop them if you can change the xml to match the casing

Answer of kay.one is perfect! It works with a any remarks:
public List<Response> Responses { get; set; }
works
public Response[] Responses { get; set; }
don`t works
And
[XmlElement("AnyValue")]
it is from System.Xml.Serialization namespace and don`t work.
Feel free to just delete them.
In this example annotation attributes and properties has same names and serializer understands.
But right annotation attributes are from RestSharp.Deserializers namespace
[DeserializeAs(Name="AnyXmlValue")]
public string AnyModelValue { get; set; }
How to manage deserialization of RestSharp

Then change the xml tag to CurrencyData. Here is the documentation about the xml deserializer: https://github.com/restsharp/RestSharp/wiki/Deserialization

I'm not sure why Kay.one's answer is accepted, it doesn't answer the question.
Per my comment, the default RestSharp deserializer doesn't check for the DeserializeAs attribute when deserializing a list. I'm not sure if that's intentional or a mistake as the author doesn't seem to be very available.
Anyways it's a simple fix.
private object HandleListDerivative(object x, XElement root, string propName, Type type)
{
Type t;
if (type.IsGenericType)
{
t = type.GetGenericArguments()[0];
}
else
{
t = type.BaseType.GetGenericArguments()[0];
}
var list = (IList)Activator.CreateInstance(type);
var elements = root.Descendants(t.Name.AsNamespaced(Namespace));
var name = t.Name;
//add the following
var attribute = t.GetAttribute<DeserializeAsAttribute>();
if (attribute != null)
name = attribute.Name;

Deserialize xml element that is empty but has attributes

I have some XML with an element like this:
<hour base_forecast="12" datim="29/0" />
And am receiving the error:
Unexpected node type Element. ReadElementString method can only be
called on elements with simple or empty content.
I am guessing this is because the element has no value. I don't control this XML so I can't change it. How would I deserialize this?
** EDIT **
One of the attributes' values is ">6" .... could this be the culprit? If so, how do I handle that?
** Update **
Found some data that wasn't returning a > in a value of the attribute. Same error is occurring.
** Edit #3 *
Created an XSD for the XML I am receiving, then generated classes for them with the xsd tool. Adding to the bottom of this post.
Here is the Deserialization code:
HttpWebRequest req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("xxx");
HttpWebResponse resp = (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse();
WeatherData Result = new WeatherData();
using (Stream st = resp.GetResponseStream())
{
XmlRootAttribute xRoot = new XmlRootAttribute();
xRoot.ElementName = "model_data";
xRoot.IsNullable = true;
Result = new XmlSerializer(typeof(WeatherData), xRoot).Deserialize(st) as WeatherData; ** Error here
Xml returned:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE observation SYSTEM "http://private.com/hithere.dtd">
<model_data>
<site a="28/12" b="KXXX">
<hour x="-9999" y="-9999" z="-9999"/>
</site>
</model_data>
Data object
[Serializable, XmlRoot("model_data")]
public class WeatherData
{
[XmlElement("site")]
public string City { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string a { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string b { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName="hour", IsNullable=true)]
public string Hour { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string x { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string y { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string z { get; set; }
}
XSD Tool generated classes
**Removed generated classes, but they are similar to what Hugo posted **

Looking at this part:
[XmlElement("site")]
public string City { get; set; }
<Site> contains <Hour>, so it is not an element with simple or empty content, I guess?
Edit: actually the whole thing seems suspect.
The data object seems to disregard all hierarchy information in the xml.
How about something like this?
[Serializable, XmlRoot("model_data")]
public class WeatherData
{
[XmlElement("site")]
public City[] City { get; set; }
}
public class City
{
[XmlAttribute]
public string a { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string b { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName="hour", IsNullable=true)]
public Hour Hour { get; set; }
}
public class Hour
{
[XmlAttribute]
public string x { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string y { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string z { get; set; }
}

When I generated the classes with the XSD tool, I getting the same error, but the error was showing being thrown from a line I had commented out.
So I exited VS, and ran disk cleanup. Ran my code again. Received a message "For security reasons DTD is prohibited in this XML document. etc." So, I allowed set the reader to DtdProcessing.Parse, and ran the code once more.
It was successful.

C#, XML to Class DeSerialization Question

I have the following XML snippet:
<dmFiles>
−
<dmFile dmUpFileGuid="" dmFileDescr="testcase01.pdf" dmFileMetaType="main" dmFileGuid="" dmMimeType="pdf" dmFormat="">
If I create a strongly typed C# class with string properties for the dmFile attributes (eg: dmFileDescr), how can I ensure these attributes will serialize to properties in my c# class?

By using Xml attributes on your class member. Use [XmlAttribute("name")].
Your implementation would look like this:
[XmlRoot("dmFile")]
public class DmFile
{
[XmlAttribute("dmUpFileGuid")]
public String UpFileGuid { get;set; }
...
}

Try this:
[Serializable]
[XmlRoot(ElementName="dmFile")]
public class File
{
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName="dmUpFileGuid")]
public string UploadGuid { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "dmFileDescr")]
public string Description { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "dmFileMetaType")]
public string MetaType { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "dmFileGuid")]
public string FileGuid { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "dmMimeType")]
public string MimeType { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "dmFormat")]
public string Format { get; set; }
}
And deserialize your XML as follow:
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(File));
File file = s.Deserialize(new StringReader(#"<dmFile ... />")) as File;

You can (de)serialize from/to XML with the XmlSerializer and marking up the target class with Attributes provided for Xml-Serialization.
Mark your public properties with the correct attribute. It should be XmlAttributeAttribute.
The enclosing class must map on the dmFile-Element (XmlRootAttribute)
If the property is called differently, or the class is called differently than the XML element, you need to specify the XML-Element/Attribute name.