How do I serialize an XML-serializable object to an XML fragment (no XML declaration nor namespace references in the root element)?
Here is a hack-ish way to do it without having to load the entire output string into an XmlDocument:
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
public class Example
{
public String Name { get; set; }
static void Main()
{
Example example = new Example { Name = "Foo" };
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Example));
XmlSerializerNamespaces emptyNamespace = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
emptyNamespace.Add(String.Empty, String.Empty);
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(output,
new XmlWriterSettings { OmitXmlDeclaration = true });
serializer.Serialize(writer, example, emptyNamespace);
Console.WriteLine(output.ToString());
}
}
You should be able to just serialize like you usually do, and then use the Root property from the resulting document.
You may need to clear the attributes of the element first.
By the way this is awesome.
I implemented this code to make it easy to work with xml fragments as classes quickly and then you can just replace the node when finished. This makes the transition between code and xml ultra-easy.
First create some extension methods.
public static class SerializableFragmentExtensions
{
public static XElement ToElement(this ISerializableFragment iSerializableFragment)
{
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(iSerializableFragment.GetType());
var emptyNamespace = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
emptyNamespace.Add(String.Empty, String.Empty);
var output = new StringBuilder();
var writer = XmlWriter.Create(output,
new XmlWriterSettings { OmitXmlDeclaration = true });
serializer.Serialize(writer, iSerializableFragment, emptyNamespace);
return XElement.Parse(output.ToString(), LoadOptions.None);
}
public static T ToObject<T>(this XElement xElement)
{
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (T));
var reader = xElement.CreateReader();
var obj = (T) serializer.Deserialize(reader);
return obj;
}
}
Next Implement the required interface (marker interface--I know you are not supposed to but I think this is the perfect reason to it.)
public interface ISerializableFragment
{
}
Now all you have to do is decorate any Serializable class, you want to convert to an XElement Fragment, with the interface.
[Serializable]
public class SomeSerializableClass : ISerializableFragment
{
[XmlAttribute]
public string SomeData { get; set; }
}
Finally test the code.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var someSerializableClassObj = new SomeSerializableClass() {SomeData = "Testing"};
var element = someSerializableClass.ToElement();
var backToSomeSerializableClassObj = element.ToObject<SomeSerializableClass>();
}
Thanks again for this amazingly useful code.
Related
Suppose I have a class:
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
class Foo {
[XmlElement(ElementName="Bar")]
public string Bar {get; set;}
}
And now I want to serialize it. But. I want to specify different namespaces,
On one occasion I want my XML look like this:
<Foo xmlns:v1="http://site1">
<v1:Bar />
</Foo>
And on the other one - like this:
<Foo xmlns:v2="http://site2">
<v2:Bar />
</Foo>
I know I need to specify the namespace in the XmlElement attribute, but this is exactly what I want to avoid.
I could, of course, make 2 different classes which are identical except the field attributes, but this feels wrong somehow.
Is there any way I could force the XmlSerializer use the namespace I choose at runtime?
Yes; XmlAttributeOverrides:
static void Main()
{
var obj = new Foo { Bar = "abc" };
GetSerializer("http://site1").Serialize(Console.Out, obj);
Console.WriteLine();
GetSerializer("http://site2").Serialize(Console.Out, obj);
}
static XmlSerializer GetSerializer(string barNamespace)
{
var ao = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
var a = new XmlAttributes();
a.XmlElements.Add(new XmlElementAttribute { Namespace = barNamespace });
ao.Add(typeof(Foo), nameof(Foo.Bar), a);
return new XmlSerializer(typeof(Foo), ao);
}
However!!!
When you do this, it generates an additional assembly in memory each time; you must cache and re-use the serializer instances - usually via a concurrent dictionary or similar. For example:
private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<string, XmlSerializer>
s_serializersByNamespace = new();
static XmlSerializer GetSerializer(string barNamespace)
{
if (!s_serializersByNamespace.TryGetValue(barNamespace, out var serializer))
{
lock (s_serializersByNamespace)
{
// double-checked, avoid dups
if (!s_serializersByNamespace.TryGetValue(barNamespace, out serializer))
{
var ao = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
var a = new XmlAttributes();
a.XmlElements.Add(new XmlElementAttribute { Namespace = barNamespace });
ao.Add(typeof(Foo), nameof(Foo.Bar), a);
serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Foo), ao);
s_serializersByNamespace[barNamespace] = serializer;
}
}
}
return serializer;
}
Note: if you want the specific xmlns control too, that's XmlSerializerNamespaces:
var obj = new Foo { Bar = "abc" };
var ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("v1", "http://site1");
GetSerializer("http://site1").Serialize(Console.Out, obj, ns);
Console.WriteLine();
ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("v2", "http://site2");
GetSerializer("http://site2").Serialize(Console.Out, obj, ns);
Currently I try to write a generic XML parser and having trouble to write a generic Parser Class.
My current Parser:
public class XmlFileLoader
{
public T GetDeserializedData<T>(Type targetType, string rootElementName, string filename)
where T: class
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(GetPath(filename));
reader.Read();
doc.Load(reader);
T result = DatabaseXmlSerializer.DeserializeXmlString<T>(doc.InnerXml, rootElementName, targetType);
return result;
}
}
My Deserializer:
public static class DatabaseXmlSerializer
{
public static T DeserializeXmlString<T>(string XmlString, string RootElementName , Type TargetType)
{
T tempObject = default;
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(StringToUTF8ByteArray(XmlString)))
{
XmlRootAttribute xRoot = new XmlRootAttribute();
xRoot.ElementName = RootElementName;
xRoot.IsNullable = true;
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(TargetType, xRoot);
XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(memoryStream, Encoding.UTF8);
tempObject = (T)xs.Deserialize(memoryStream);
}
return tempObject;
}
}
My call:
var loader= new XmlFileLoader();
var books = loader.GetDeserializedData<List<MySolution.Book>>(typeof(List<MySolution.Book>), "Bookstore", "Books.xml");
What is my concern?
I have to pass the type twice, but somehow i can't figure out how to just write it with one type.
I want my call to be like this:
var loader= new XmlFileLoader();
var books = loader.GetDeserializedData<List<MySolution.Book>>("Bookstore", "Books.xml");
There are so many errors in your code that I don't know what to do.
It's easier to rewrite the code completely.
public class XmlFileLoader
{
public T GetData<T>(string rootElementName, string filename)
{
var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T),
new XmlRootAttribute(rootElementName));
using (var xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(filename))
return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlReader);
}
}
This is the whole code!
Use it:
var xmlFileLoader = new XmlFileLoader();
var someModel = xmlFileLoader.GetData<SomeModel>("root", "filename");
The deserialization code is so simple that you can just throw out this class and just use XmlSerializer directly where you need it.
However, there is a serious problem when using XmlRootAttribute: multiple versions of the same assembly are generated and never unloaded, which results in a memory leak and poor performance. See documentation: Dynamically Generated Assemblies.
Therefore, it makes sense to cache serializer instances inside our class. Then its presence becomes justified.
public class XmlFileLoader
{
private static readonly Dictionary<(Type, string), XmlSerializer> serializers
= new Dictionary<(Type, string), XmlSerializer>();
public T GetData<T>(string rootElementName, string filename)
{
var key = (typeof(T), rootElementName);
if (!serializers.TryGetValue(key, out XmlSerializer xmlSerializer))
{
xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T),
new XmlRootAttribute(rootElementName));
serializers.Add(key, xmlSerializer);
}
using (var xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(filename))
return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlReader);
}
}
I am serializing List of objects List<TestObject>
, and XmlSerializer generates <ArrayOfTestObject> attribute, I want rename it or remove it.
Can it be done with creating new class that encapsulated List as field?
[XmlRoot("Container")]
public class TestObject
{
public TestObject() { }
public string Str { get; set; }
}
List<TestObject> tmpList = new List<TestObject>();
TestObject TestObj = new TestObject();
TestObj.Str = "Test";
TestObject TestObj2 = new TestObject();
TestObj2.Str = "xcvxc";
tmpList.Add(TestObj);
tmpList.Add(TestObj2);
XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;
settings.Indent = true;
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<TestObject>));
using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(#"C:\test.xml", settings))
{
XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
namespaces.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);
serializer.Serialize(writer, tmpList, namespaces);
}
<ArrayOfTestObject>
<TestObject>
<Str>Test</Str>
</TestObject>
<TestObject>
<Str>xcvxc</Str>
</TestObject>
</ArrayOfTestObject>
The most reliable way is to declare an outermost DTO class:
[XmlRoot("myOuterElement")]
public class MyOuterMessage {
[XmlElement("item")]
public List<TestObject> Items {get;set;}
}
and serialize that (i.e. put your list into another object).
You can avoid a wrapper class, but I wouldn't:
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Foo>),
new XmlRootAttribute("Flibble"));
List<Foo> foos = new List<Foo> {
new Foo {Bar = "abc"},
new Foo {Bar = "def"}
};
ser.Serialize(Console.Out, foos);
}
}
public class Foo
{
public string Bar { get; set; }
}
The problem with this is that when you use custom attributes you need to be very careful to store and re-use the serializer, otherwise you get lots of dynamic assemblies loaded into memory. This is avoided if you just use the XmlSerializer(Type) constructor, as it caches this internally automatically.
Change the following line from:
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<TestObject>));
To:
XmlRootAttribute root = new XmlRootAttribute("TestObjects");
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<TestObject>), root);
It should work.
You can add an additional parameter to the XmlSerializer constructor to essentially name the root element.
XmlSerializer xsSubmit = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<DropDownOption>), new XmlRootAttribute("DropDownOptions"));
This would result in the following structure:
<DropDownOptions xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<DropDownOption>
<ID>1</ID>
<Description>foo</Description>
</DropDownOption>
<DropDownOption>
<ID>2</ID>
<Description>bar</Description>
</DropDownOption>
</DropDownOptions>
Create another class like :
[XmlRoot("TestObjects")]
public class TestObjects: List<TestObject>
{
}
Then apply below code while sealizing :
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TestObjects));
MemoryStream memStream = new MemoryStream();
serializer.Serialize(memStream, tmpList);
If I create a class in C#, how can I serialize/deserialize it to a file? Is this somethat that can be done using built in functionality or is it custom code?
XmlSerializer; note that the exact xml names can be controlled through various attributes, but all you really need is:
a public type
with a default constructor
and public read/write members (ideally properties)
Example:
using System;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
public class Person {
public string Name { get; set; }
}
static class Program {
static void Main() {
Person person = new Person { Name = "Fred"};
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));
// write
using (XmlWriter xw = XmlWriter.Create("file.xml")) {
ser.Serialize(xw, person);
}
// read
using (XmlReader xr = XmlReader.Create("file.xml")) {
Person clone = (Person) ser.Deserialize(xr);
Console.WriteLine(clone.Name);
}
}
}
You need to use class XmlSerializer. Main methods are Serialize and Deserialize. They accept streams, text readers\writers and other classes.
Code sample:
public class Program
{
public class MyClass
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var myObj = new MyClass { Name = "My name" };
var fileName = "data.xml";
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyClass));
using (var output = new XmlTextWriter(fileName, Encoding.UTF8))
serializer.Serialize(output, myObj);
using (var input = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
var deserialized = (MyClass)serializer.Deserialize(input);
Console.WriteLine(deserialized.Name);
}
Console.WriteLine("Press ENTER to finish");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Can I make XmlSerializer ignore the namespace (xmlns attribute) on deserialization so that it doesn't matter if the attribute is added or not or even if the attribute is bogus? I know that the source will always be trusted so I don't care about the xmlns attribute.
Yes, you can tell the XmlSerializer to ignore namespaces during de-serialization.
Define an XmlTextReader that ignores namespaces. Like so:
// helper class to ignore namespaces when de-serializing
public class NamespaceIgnorantXmlTextReader : XmlTextReader
{
public NamespaceIgnorantXmlTextReader(System.IO.TextReader reader): base(reader) { }
public override string NamespaceURI
{
get { return ""; }
}
}
// helper class to omit XML decl at start of document when serializing
public class XTWFND : XmlTextWriter {
public XTWFND (System.IO.TextWriter w) : base(w) { Formatting= System.Xml.Formatting.Indented;}
public override void WriteStartDocument () { }
}
Here's an example of how you would de-serialize using that TextReader:
public class MyType1
{
public string Label
{
set { _Label= value; }
get { return _Label; }
}
private int _Epoch;
public int Epoch
{
set { _Epoch= value; }
get { return _Epoch; }
}
}
String RawXml_WithNamespaces = #"
<MyType1 xmlns='urn:booboo-dee-doo'>
<Label>This document has namespaces on its elements</Label>
<Epoch xmlns='urn:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'>0</Epoch>
</MyType1>";
System.IO.StringReader sr;
sr= new System.IO.StringReader(RawXml_WithNamespaces);
var s1 = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyType1));
var o1= (MyType1) s1.Deserialize(new NamespaceIgnorantXmlTextReader(sr));
System.Console.WriteLine("\n\nDe-serialized, then serialized again:\n");
XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("urn", "booboo-dee-doo");
s1.Serialize(new XTWFND(System.Console.Out), o1, ns);
Console.WriteLine("\n\n");
The result is like so:
<MyType1>
<Label>This document has namespaces on its elements</Label>
<Epoch>0</Epoch>
</MyType1>
If you expect no namespace, but the input has namespaces, then you can set
Namespaces = false
on your XmlTextReader.
Exdended Wolfgang Grinfeld answer (w/o exception handling):
public static Message Convert(XmlDocument doc)
{
Message obj;
using (TextReader textReader = new StringReader(doc.OuterXml))
{
using (XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(textReader))
{
reader.Namespaces = false;
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Message));
obj = (Message)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}
}
return obj;
}
Solved this by using XmlSerializer Deserialize to read from xml instead from stream. This way before xml is Deserialized, using Regex to remove xsi:type from the xml. Was doing this is Portable Class Library for Cross Platform, so did not had many other options :(. After this the deserialization seems to work fine.
Following code can help,
public static TClass Deserialize<TClass>(string xml) where TClass : class, new()
{
var tClass = new TClass();
xml = RemoveTypeTagFromXml(xml);
var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TClass));
using (TextReader textReader = new StringReader(xml))
{
tClass = (TClass)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(textReader);
}
return tClass;
}
public static string RemoveTypeTagFromXml(string xml)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(xml) && xml.Contains("xsi:type"))
{
xml = Regex.Replace(xml, #"\s+xsi:type=""\w+""", "");
}
return xml;
}
Why try to make the XmlSerializer forget how XML works? It's a fact of XML that two elements with the same name but different namespaces are different elements.
If you want to process XML that has no namespaces, then you should pre-process it to remove the namespaces, and then pass it to the serializer.