Develop Reference

Object element from XML De-serialization not filling Attributes are

I am receiving back from a Web Service XML that looks like this:
<RESULT>
<GRP ID="INP">
<FLD NAME="SORDNO" TYPE="Char"></FLD>
<FLD NAME="SITENO" TYPE="Char">999</FLD>
</GRP>
<TAB DIM="100" ID="POS" SIZE="0"/>
<TAB DIM="500" ID="ERR" SIZE="2">
<LIN NUM="1">
<FLD NAME="ERRORS" TYPE="Char"/>
</LIN>
<LIN NUM="2">
<FLD NAME="ERRORS" TYPE="Char">Site code 999 is not valid</FLD>
</LIN>
</TAB>
I want to codify the XML into an object so I created a class that seems to match the XML structure:
namespace DropShipmentFulfillment.SagePOCreateProcess
{
public class SagePOCreateResponse1
{
[XmlRoot("RESULT")]
public class RESULT
{
[XmlElement("GRP")]
public RESULTGRP GRP;
[XmlElement("TAB")]
public RESULTTAB[] TAB;
}
public partial class RESULTGRP
{
[XmlAttribute("ID")]
public string ID;
[XmlElement("FLD")]
public RESULTFLD[] FLD;
}
public partial class RESULTTAB
{
[XmlAttribute("DIM")]
public string DIM;
[XmlAttribute("ID")]
public string ID;
[XmlAttribute("SIZE")]
public string SIZE;
[XmlElement("LIN")]
public RESULTLIN[] LIN;
}
public partial class RESULTLIN
{
[XmlAttribute("NUM")]
public string NUM;
[XmlElement("FLD")]
public RESULTFLD FLD;
}
public partial class RESULTFLD
{
[XmlAttribute("NAME")]
public string NAME;
[XmlAttribute("TYPE")]
public string TYPE;
}
}
}
When I perform the serialization I execute this code:
private SagePOCreateResponse1.RESULT GetPOResponse(SageWeb.CAdxResultXml sageSvcResponse)
{
string xml = sageSvcResponse.resultXml;
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SagePOCreateResponse1.RESULT));
StringReader rdr = new StringReader(xml);
SagePOCreateResponse1.RESULT resultingMessage = (SagePOCreateResponse1.RESULT)serializer.Deserialize(rdr);
return resultingMessage;
}
When I execute the program I do not get an error indicating that the class structure does not match the XML structure, but specifically, the FLD element does not contain a value. For example, if I stop to take a look at a specific field (FLD), in GRP I get the attributes values but not the value of the element:
?objectResponse.GRP.FLD[0]
{DropShipmentFulfillment.SagePOCreateProcess.SagePOCreateResponse1.RESULTFLD}
NAME: "SORDNO"
TYPE: "Char"
It seems like the serializer is not putting the element value in place though I think I have named it right and I get no errors.
What am I missing? Why would it resolve the attributes and not the element values?
I did try doing the XSD creation to C# Class route, but when I had to deal with dynamic lines (LIN) I tried creating my own class.

Thanks to jdweng I was able to find a solution. Keeping all things the same from my question I changed one class:
public partial class RESULTFLD
{
[XmlAttribute("NAME")]
public string NAME;
[XmlAttribute("TYPE")]
public string TYPE;
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()]
public string Value;
}
I needed this line "[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()]" instead of just the "[XmlText]" line.
The class now deserilizes the XML so I get both attribute values and innerText values.

Add custom attribute to a class generated by Entity Framework

I am trying to use a custom attribute on a Entity class generated automatically by the Entity Framework.
The problem is how to add an property attribute on an existing field?
Here the point where I am right now:
// the custom attribute class
public class MyCustomAttribute : Attribute
{
public String Key { get; set; }
}
// Entity Framework class generated automatically
public partial class EntityClass
{
public String Existent { get; set; }
//...
}
// set a metadata class for my entity
[MetadataType(typeof(EntityClassMetaData))]
public partial class EntityClass
{
// if I add a new property to the entity, it works. This attribute will be read
[MyCustomAttribute(Key = "KeyOne" )]
public int newProp { get; set; }
}
public class EntityClassMetaData
{
// adding the custom attribute to the existing property
[MyCustomAttribute(Key = "keyMeta") ]
public String Existent { get; set; }
}
Running this test:
[TestMethod]
public void test1()
{
foreach (var prop in typeof(EntityClass).GetProperties())
{
var att = prop.GetCustomAttribute<MyCustomAttribute>();
if (att != null)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Found {att.Key}");
}
}
}
will produce:
Found KeyOne
Or the Metadata class store the attribute in a different way or only works for data annotations.
I am stuck here, how can I set and read custom attributes of the generated class without having to edit the generated file?

I came across this same problem today. I figured EF magic would do the trick and map the attribute across to each model property. Turns out it does, but only for EF data annotations and I couldn't find an answered solution to pull out custom attributes so made this function. Hope it helps dude.
private object[] GetMetadataCustomAttributes(Type T, string propName)
{
if (Attribute.IsDefined(T, typeof(MetadataTypeAttribute)))
{
var metadataClassType =
(T.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetadataTypeAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault() as
MetadataTypeAttribute).MetadataClassType;
var metaDataClassProperty = metadataClassType.GetProperty(propName);
if (metaDataClassProperty != null)
{
return metaDataClassProperty.GetCustomAttributes(true);
}
}
return null;
}

I believe if you want to set an attribute in the metadata class, you have to use this syntax:
public class EntityClassMetaData
{
// adding the custom attribute to the existing property
[MyCustomAttribute(Key = "keyMeta") ]
public String Existent;
}
You must not have { get; set; } on your pre-existing property - just the property with the correct name and datatype.

ConfigurationManager - Configuration Section error

I want a configuration section that looks like this:
<MailMessage>
<from value="me#you.com" />
<subject value ="Subject goes here" />
<body value="Hello. You've got mail!" />
</MailMessage>
And I have implemented the classes like in the second answer of this link:
How to implement a ConfigurationSection with a ConfigurationElementCollection
Now for me the elements of MailMessage section are not a collection but this should not be a problem but I receive the error when I try to access the property:
Unrecognized element 'from'
I get the section with the code:
private static MailMessageSection emailSection = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("MailMessage") as MailMessageSection;
Here is the implementation of the elements:
public class MailMessageSection : ConfigurationSection
{
[ConfigurationProperty("from")]
public FromElement From
{
get { return base["from"] as FromElement; }
}
[ConfigurationProperty("subject")]
public SubjectElement Subject
{
get { return base["subject"] as SubjectElement; }
}
[ConfigurationProperty("body")]
public BodyElement Body
{
get { return base["body"] as BodyElement; }
}
}
public class FromElement : ConfigurationElement
{
[ConfigurationProperty("value")]
public string From
{
get { return base["value"] as string; }
}
}
public class SubjectElement : ConfigurationElement
{
[ConfigurationProperty("value")]
public string Subject
{
get { return base["value"] as string; }
}
}
public class BodyElement : ConfigurationElement
{
[ConfigurationProperty("value")]
public string Body
{
get { return base["value"] as string; }
}
}
Any ideas what could be wrong? Thanks for your time!

Looking for error is serializable classes can be frustrating. I suggest you to use the auto generate functionalities in VisualStudio. Here is how you do it (very simple):
1. Copy the XML example (to the clipboard)
2. Create new class for the XML ("MailMessageSection" in your case)
3. In VS go to Edit > Paste Special > Paste XML As Classes
I know this is not exactly the reason why the from is not working, but using auto generated code is much better practice then write it on your own.
Hope it helps...

Set XML serialziation resulting doc root

I've got another problem (which might not be an issue in terms of coding problems) but more of principle..been bugging me for a while. I have this c# class, as follows:
namespace SMCProcessMonitor
{
public class Config
{
[XmlElement("Recipient")]
public string recipient;
[XmlElement("Server-port")]
public int serverport;
[XmlElement("Username")]
public string username;
[XmlElement("Password")]
public string password;
[XmlElement("Program")]
public List<Programs> mPrograms = new List<Programs>();
[Serializable]
[XmlRoot("Email-Config")]
public class Email
{
public string Recipient
{
get
{
return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.recipient;
}
set
{
SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.recipient = value;
}
}
public int ServerPort
{
get
{
return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.serverport;
}
set
{
SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.serverport = value;
}
}
public string Username
{
get
{
return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.username;
}
set
{
SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.username = value;
}
}
public string Password { get; set; }
}
}
I can serialize this almost fine. (i recently changed simple get; set; to the full-works as seen above, but when serialising i get something like this;
<Config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Recipient>sd</Recipient>
<Server-port>1234</Server-port>
<Username>dk</Username>
<Password>kdkdk</Password>
</Config>
Basically I want to wrap these 4 tags in an "email-settings" tag.

Add the Serializable() and XmlRoot attributes up to the base class:
[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("Email-Settings")]
public class Config

There are attributes to control aspects of xml serialization like this, see Controlling XML Serialization Using Attributes.
I think the one you want specifically is XmlRootAttribute.

You'll need to create an EmailSettings class that contains those 4 properties, and then make an instance of the EmailSettings class a member of your Config class.

One field xml cannot be deserialized using XmlSerializer class

I have the following xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<connection_state>conn_state</connection_state>
Following the msdn, I must describe it as a type for correct deserialization using XmlSerializer. So the class name points the first tag, and its fields subtags.
For example:
public class connection_state
{
public string state;
}
Will be transformed into the following xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<connection_state>
<state>conn_state</state>
</connection_state>
But the xml I receive has only one tag. And we cannot create a field with the name of its class like:
public class connection_state
{
public string connection_state;
}
Or can?
Is there any solution for this issue?

Proper Xml has a root element with no content except other elements. If you are stuck with that tiny one-tag psuedo-XML, is there a reason you need to use XmlSerializer? Why not just create a class with a constructor that takes the literal "Xml" string:
using System.Xml.Linq;
public class connection_state {
public string state { get; set; }
public connection_state(string xml) {
this.state = XDocument.Parse(xml).Element("connection_state").Value;
}
}
Edit:
In response to OP's comment: You don't have to us an XmlSerializer; you can just read the ResponseStream directly and pass that to your connection_state constructor:
String xmlString = (new StreamReader(webResponse.GetResponseStream())).ReadToEnd();
connection_state c= new connection_state(xmlString);

Replace
public class connection_state
{
public string state;
}
to
public class connection_state
{
public string state {set; get;}
}