I have a simple class Student under namespace School.
namespace XmlTestApp
{
public class Student
{
private string studentId;
public string FirstName;
public string MI;
public string LastName;
public Student()
{
//Just provided for making Serialization work as obj.GetType() needs parameterless constructor.
}
public Student(String studentId)
{
this.studentId = studentId;
}
}
}
Now when i serialize this, i get this as serialized xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Student xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<FirstName>Cad</FirstName>
<MI>Dsart</MI>
<LastName>dss</LastName>
</Student>
But what i want is this, basically i need the namespace prefixed to class name in xml, is this possible?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<XmlTestApp:Student xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<FirstName>Cad</FirstName>
<MI>Dsart</MI>
<LastName>dss</LastName>
</Student>
Here's my serialization code:
Student s = new Student("2");
s.FirstName = "Cad";
s.LastName = "dss";
s.MI = "Dsart";
System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer x = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(s.GetType());
TextWriter txtW=new StreamWriter(Server.MapPath("~/XMLFile1.xml"));
x.Serialize(txtW,s);
EDIT: Short answer is still yes. The proper attribute is actually the XmlType attribute. In addition, you will need to specify a namespace, and then in the serialization code you will need to specify aliases for the namespaces that will be used to qualitfy elements.
namespace XmlTestApp
{
[XmlRoot(Namespace="xmltestapp", TypeName="Student")]
public class Student
{
private string studentId;
public string FirstName;
public string MI;
public string LastName;
public Student()
{
//Just provided for making Serialization work as obj.GetType() needs parameterless constructor.
}
public Student(String studentId)
{
this.studentId = studentId;
}
}
}
...
Student s = new Student("2");
s.FirstName = "Cad";
s.LastName = "dss";
s.MI = "Dsart";
System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer x = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(s.GetType());
System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationNamespaces ns = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationNamespaces();
ns.Add("XmlTestApp", "xmltestapp");
TextWriter txtW=new StreamWriter(Server.MapPath("~/XMLFile1.xml"));
x.Serialize(txtW,s, ns); //add the namespace provider to the Serialize method
You may have to play around with the setting up of the namespace to ensure it still uses the XSD/XSI from W3.org, but this should get you on the right track.
Another way how to achieve it, is to write your xml - than use tool in visual studio - xml to xsd. If you have xsd, you can generate serializeable classes with xsdToCode
An elegant solution would be to use XmlSerializerNamespaces to declare your namespace and then pass that into the XmlSerializer
See XML Serialization and namespace prefixes
Related
I am trying to use the XmlSerializer class in C# to deserialize some XML that I am pulling from someone. Unfortunately, they have their root element named "Employee", and then the inner elements inside that root element are also named "Employee":
<Employee xmlns="http://www.testxmlns.com/employee">
<Employee>
<OtherElement>OE</OtherElement>
...
</Employee>
<Employee>
<OtherElement>OE</OtherElement>
...
</Employee>
</Employee>
I was able to find another question that is very similar, but not exactly. Here is what my current object looks like:
[XmlType("Employee")]
[XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "http://www.testxmlns.com/employee", IsNullable = true)]
public class Employee
{
[XmlElement("Employee")]
public Employee[] InnerEmployee;
[XmlElement("OtherElement")]
public String OtherElement;
...
}
When I run the following, everything seems to work (no exceptions thrown), but everything in the returned object is null, including the inner list of Employee objects, which should not be null based on the XML I am inputting:
Employee retObj;
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Employee));
using (TextReader sr = new StringReader(xmlString))
{
retObj = (Employee)serializer.Deserialize(sr);
}
return retObj;
Any help would be appreciated!
You can see in this fiddle that if I take your code and run it... it works!
What I would suggest, however, is to have two classes: one for the 'root' and one for each child element. This would make it less confusing to work with:
[XmlRoot("Employee", Namespace = "http://www.testxmlns.com/employee")]
public class EmployeeRoot
{
[XmlElement("Employee")]
public Employee[] Employees { get; set; }
}
public class Employee
{
public string OtherElement { get; set; }
}
You can see in this fiddle that this also works.
I have XML Serializable class with property Name
[Serializable]
public class Item
{
[XmlElement("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
and I want it to be able to deserialize XML file that I have in two ways:
<item>
<name>Name</name>
</item>
and
<item>
<name value="Name" />
</item>
The first works fine but what should I do to be able to deserialize the second also with the same class?
XML Serialization attributes work both with serialization and deserialization. If we'll assume that it might be possible to use attributes for deserializing instance of Item from two different xml structures, then how serialization should work - should it serialize instance name to element value, or to attribute? Or to both? That's why you cannot deserialize two different xml structures into single class. Use two different classes or deserialize it manually without usage of XML Serialization attributes.
I found another way to solve my problem using only one class maybe someone will find this useful
[Serializable]
public class Item
{
[XmlElement("name")]
public NameElement NameElement { get; set; }
}
public class NameElement
{
[XmlAttribute("value")]
public string Value { get; set; }
[XmlText]
public string Text { get; set; }
[XmlIgnore]
public string Name
{
get { return String.IsNullOrEmpty(this.Value) ? this.Text : this.Value; }
set { this.Value = value; }
}
}
Maybe it's not super elegant but it works in both cases and uses the same class.
Since you have mentioned that XML data is coming from external sources, so obviously you don't have control over that.
Therefore you can follow any of the option as below:
Create separate class per XML data structure, because as far I know there is no way to control XML Deserialization when using XmlSerializer
You can use XDocument to read the XML by self, to overcome this limitation.
If going by second idea, I have created small Console Application to demonstrate that.
Main piece of code is as below:
MemoryStream xmlStream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xmlData));
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(xmlStream);
var records = from record in doc.Descendants("item").Descendants()
select new Item(!record.IsEmpty ? record.Value : record.Attribute("value").Value);
Here I'm reading the element using LinqToXml and checking if the element is not empty, i.e. Value is not blank, then use Value otherwise read the value from element's Attribute.
Console application (Complete code):
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
namespace Console.TestApp
{
class Program
{
static string xmltypeFirst = #"<item>
<name>John</name>
</item>";
static string xmltypeSecond = #"<item>
<name value='Smith' />
</item>";
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var data = xmltypeFirst;
var result = Deserialize(data).ToList();
Console.WriteLine("Name: " + result[0].Name);
data = xmltypeSecond;
result = Deserialize(data).ToList();
Console.WriteLine("Name: " + result[0].Name);
Console.WriteLine("Press any to key to exit..");
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static IEnumerable<Item> Deserialize(string xmlData)
{
MemoryStream xmlStream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xmlData));
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(xmlStream);
var records = from record in doc.Descendants("item").Descendants()
select new Item(!record.IsEmpty ? record.Value : record.Attribute("value").Value);
return records;
}
}
[Serializable]
public class Item
{
public Item(string name)
{
this.Name = name;
}
[XmlElement("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
}
Note: To run this you will need to add reference to System.Xml.Linq.dll in your project.
Reference: here
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;}
}
I have xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LabelTypesCollection xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance="xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<LabelTypes>
<LabelType>
<Name>LabelTypeProduct</Name>
</LabelType>
<LabelType>
<Name>LabelTypeClient</Name>
</LabelType>
</LabelTypes>
</LabelTypesCollection>
And 2 c# classes:
[Serializable]
[XmlRoot("LabelTypesCollection")]
public class LabelTypesCollection
{
private static string _labelTypesCollectionPath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData), Path.Combine(Program.ProgramName, "LabelTypesCollection.xml"));
[XmlArray("LabelTypes", ElementName="LabelType")]
public List<LabelType> LabelTypes { get; set; }
public static LabelTypesCollection LoadAllLabelTypes()
{
FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(_labelTypesCollectionPath);
if (!fi.Exists)
{
Logger.WriteLog("Could not find size_types_collection.xml file.", new Exception("Could not find size_types_collection.xml file."));
return new LabelTypesCollection();
}
try
{
using (FileStream fs = fi.OpenRead())
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(LabelTypesCollection));
LabelTypesCollection labelTypesCollection = (LabelTypesCollection)serializer.Deserialize(fs);
return labelTypesCollection;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Logger.WriteLog("Error during loading LabelTypesCollection", ex);
return null;
}
}
}
[Serializable]
public class LabelType
{
[XmlElement("Name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[XmlIgnore]
public string TranslatedName
{
get
{
string translated = Common.Resources.GetValue(Name);
return (translated == null) ? Name : translated;
}
}
}
And when I call:
LabelTypesCollection.LoadAllLabelTypes();
I get LabelTypeCollection object with empty LabelTypes list. There is no error or anything. Could anyone point me to the problem?
Change this
[XmlArray("LabelTypes", ElementName="LabelType")]
to this
[XmlArray]
The ElementName of an XmlArrayAttribute specifies the element name of the container, and is actually what you specify in the first parameter to the ctor! So the ctor you have says "this class serializes as a container named LabelTypes; no wait actually I want the container to be named LabelType". The named parameter is overwriting what the first unnamed parameter says.
And in fact, since you want the container element to be named LabelTypes, which is what the member is actually called, you don't need to specify it at all.
You may have been thinking of XmlArrayItemAttribute, which controls what the individual members of a serialized collection are named - but you don't need that here either.
My usual approach for working out xml serializer stuff is to build objects manually then look at the xml they serialize to. In this case, using the code you currently have produces xml like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<LabelTypesCollection xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<LabelType>
<LabelType>
<Name>one</Name>
</LabelType>
<LabelType>
<Name>two</Name>
</LabelType>
</LabelType>
</LabelTypesCollection>
which is what tipped me off to the incorrect LabelType specifier.
Note that you also don't need the XmlRoot on LabelTypesCollection, or the XmlElement on Name, since you are just specifying what the xml serializer will come up with anyway.
Here's a suggestion.
Write a small test program that creates an instance of LabelTypesCollection, and adds some LabelType objects into it.
Then use an XmlSerializer to write the object to a file, and look at the Xml you get, to ensure that your input Xml is in the correct schema.
Maybe there's something wrong with one of your Xml elements.
I really think you get an empty list because your code can't find the xml file. Also try instantiating your list. If you have the xml path correctly.
public List<LabelType> LabelTypes = new List<LabelType>();
If I have a class MovieClass as
[XmlRoot("MovieClass")]
public class Movie
{
[XmlElement("Novie")]
public string Title;
[XmlElement("Rating")]
public int rating;
}
How can I've an attribute "x:uid" in my "Movie" element, so that the output when XmlSerializer XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MovieClass)) was used
is like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<MovieClass>
<Movie x:uid="123">Armagedon</Movie>
</MovieClass>
and not like this
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<MovieClass xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Movie x:uid="123" Title="Armagedon"/>
</MovieClass>
Note: I want the xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" removed, if possible.
I answered this in your original post, but I think this one is worded better so I will post it here as well, if it gets closed as duplicate you can modify your original post to mirror this question.
I don't think this is possible without having Title be a custom type or explicitly implementing serialization methods.
You could do a custom class like so..
class MovieTitle
{
[XmlText]
public string Title { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute(Namespace="http://www.myxmlnamespace.com")]
public string uid { get; set; }
public override ToString() { return Title; }
}
[XmlRoot("MovieClass")]
public class Movie
{
[XmlElement("Movie")]
public MovieTitle Title;
}
which will produce:
<MovieClass xmlns:x="http://www.myxmlnamespace.com">
<Movie x:uid="movie_001">Armagedon</Movie>
</MovieClass>
Although the serializer will compensate for unknown namespaces with a result you probably won't expect.
You can avoid the wierd behavior by declaring your namespaces and providing the object to the serializer..
XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("x", "http://www.myxmlnamespace.com");
It's not valid XML if you don't have x declared as a namespace prefix. Quintin's response tells you how to get valid XML.