How to Deserialize XML document

Question

How do I Deserialize this XML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Cars>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1020</StockNumber>
    <Make>Nissan</Make>
    <Model>Sentra</Model>
  </Car>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1010</StockNumber>
    <Make>Toyota</Make>
    <Model>Corolla</Model>
  </Car>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1111</StockNumber>
    <Make>Honda</Make>
    <Model>Accord</Model>
  </Car>
</Cars>

I have this:

[Serializable()]
public class Car
{
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("StockNumber")]
    public string StockNumber{ get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("Make")]
    public string Make{ get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("Model")]
    public string Model{ get; set; }
}

.

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute("Cars", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public class Cars
{
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(Car))]
    public Car[] Car { get; set; }

}

.

public class CarSerializer
{
    public Cars Deserialize()
    {
        Cars[] cars = null;
        string path = HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/") + "cars.xml";

        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Cars[]));

        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
        reader.ReadToEnd();
        cars = (Cars[])serializer.Deserialize(reader);
        reader.Close();

        return cars;
    }
}

that don't seem to work :-(

Answer 1

How about you just save the xml to a file, and use xsd to generate C# classes?

1. Write the file to disk (I named it foo.xml)
2. Generate the xsd: xsd foo.xml
3. Generate the C#: xsd foo.xsd /classes

Et voila - and C# code file that should be able to read the data via XmlSerializer:

    XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Cars));
    Cars cars;
    using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(path))
    {
        cars = (Cars) ser.Deserialize(reader);
    }

(include the generated foo.cs in the project)

Answer 2

Here's a working version. I changed the XmlElementAttribute labels to XmlElement because in the xml the StockNumber, Make and Model values are elements, not attributes. Also I removed the reader.ReadToEnd(); (that function reads the whole stream and returns a string, so the Deserialize() function couldn't use the reader anymore...the position was at the end of the stream). I also took a few liberties with the naming :).

Here are the classes:

[Serializable()]
public class Car
{
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("StockNumber")]
    public string StockNumber { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("Make")]
    public string Make { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("Model")]
    public string Model { get; set; }
}


[Serializable()]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRoot("CarCollection")]
public class CarCollection
{
    [XmlArray("Cars")]
    [XmlArrayItem("Car", typeof(Car))]
    public Car[] Car { get; set; }
}

The Deserialize function:

CarCollection cars = null;
string path = "cars.xml";

XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CarCollection));

StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
cars = (CarCollection)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
reader.Close();

And the slightly tweaked xml (I needed to add a new element to wrap <Cars>...Net is picky about deserializing arrays):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CarCollection>
<Cars>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1020</StockNumber>
    <Make>Nissan</Make>
    <Model>Sentra</Model>
  </Car>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1010</StockNumber>
    <Make>Toyota</Make>
    <Model>Corolla</Model>
  </Car>
  <Car>
    <StockNumber>1111</StockNumber>
    <Make>Honda</Make>
    <Model>Accord</Model>
  </Car>
</Cars>
</CarCollection>

Answer 3

You have two possibilities.

Method 1. XSD tool

---

Suppose that you have your XML file in this location C:\path\to\xml\file.xml

1. Open Developer Command Prompt
   You can find it in Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 > Visual Studio Tools Or if you have Windows 8 can just start typing Developer Command Prompt in Start screen
2. Change location to your XML file directory by typing cd /D "C:\path\to\xml"
3. Create XSD file from your xml file by typing xsd file.xml
4. Create C# classes by typing xsd /c file.xsd

And that's it! You have generated C# classes from xml file in C:\path\to\xml\file.cs

Method 2 - Paste special

---

Required Visual Studio 2012+

1. Copy content of your XML file to clipboard
2. Add to your solution new, empty class file (Shift+Alt+C)
3. Open that file and in menu click Edit > Paste special > Paste XML As Classes
   

And that's it!

Usage

---

Usage is very simple with this helper class:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization; // Add reference: System.Web.Extensions
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace Helpers
{
    internal static class ParseHelpers
    {
        private static JavaScriptSerializer json;
        private static JavaScriptSerializer JSON { get { return json ?? (json = new JavaScriptSerializer()); } }

        public static Stream ToStream(this string @this)
        {
            var stream = new MemoryStream();
            var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
            writer.Write(@this);
            writer.Flush();
            stream.Position = 0;
            return stream;
        }


        public static T ParseXML<T>(this string @this) where T : class
        {
            var reader = XmlReader.Create(@this.Trim().ToStream(), new XmlReaderSettings() { ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Document });
            return new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)).Deserialize(reader) as T;
        }

        public static T ParseJSON<T>(this string @this) where T : class
        {
            return JSON.Deserialize<T>(@this.Trim());
        }
    }
}

All you have to do now, is:

    public class JSONRoot
    {
        public catalog catalog { get; set; }
    }
    // ...

    string xml = File.ReadAllText(@"D:\file.xml");
    var catalog1 = xml.ParseXML<catalog>();

    string json = File.ReadAllText(@"D:\file.json");
    var catalog2 = json.ParseJSON<JSONRoot>();

Answer 4

The following snippet should do the trick (and you can ignore most of the serialization attributes):

public class Car
{
  public string StockNumber { get; set; }
  public string Make { get; set; }
  public string Model { get; set; }
}

[XmlRootAttribute("Cars")]
public class CarCollection
{
  [XmlElement("Car")]
  public Car[] Cars { get; set; }
}

...

using (TextReader reader = new StreamReader(path))
{
  XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CarCollection));
  return (CarCollection) serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}

Answer 5

See if this helps:

[Serializable()]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute("Cars", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public class Cars
{
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(Car))]
    public Car[] Car { get; set; }
}

.

[Serializable()]
public class Car
{
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement()]
    public string StockNumber{ get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement()]
    public string Make{ get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement()]
    public string Model{ get; set; }
}

And failing that use the xsd.exe program that comes with visual studio to create a schema document based on that xml file, and then use it again to create a class based on the schema document.

Answer 6

I don't think .net is 'picky about deserializing arrays'. The first xml document is not well formed. There is no root element, although it looks like there is. The canonical xml document has a root and at least 1 element (if at all). In your example:

<Root> <-- well, the root
  <Cars> <-- an element (not a root), it being an array
    <Car> <-- an element, it being an array item
    ...
    </Car>
  </Cars>
</Root>

Answer 7

For Beginners

I found the answers here to be very helpful, that said I still struggled (just a bit) to get this working. So, in case it helps someone I'll spell out the working solution:

XML from Original Question. The xml is in a file Class1.xml, a path to this file is used in the code to locate this xml file.

I used the answer by @erymski to get this working, so created a file called Car.cs and added the following:

using System.Xml.Serialization;  // Added

public class Car
{
    public string StockNumber { get; set; }
    public string Make { get; set; }
    public string Model { get; set; }
}

[XmlRootAttribute("Cars")]
public class CarCollection
{
    [XmlElement("Car")]
    public Car[] Cars { get; set; }
}

The other bit of code provided by @erymski ...

using (TextReader reader = new StreamReader(path))
{
  XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CarCollection));
  return (CarCollection) serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}

... goes into your main program (Program.cs), in static CarCollection XCar() like this:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApp2
{
    class Program
    {

        public static void Main()
        {
            var c = new CarCollection();

            c = XCar();

            foreach (var k in c.Cars)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(k.Make + " " + k.Model + " " + k.StockNumber);
            }
            c = null;
            Console.ReadLine();

        }
        static CarCollection XCar()
        {
            using (TextReader reader = new StreamReader(@"C:\Users\SlowLearner\source\repos\ConsoleApp2\ConsoleApp2\Class1.xml"))
            {
                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CarCollection));
                return (CarCollection)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
            }
        }
    }
}

Hope it helps :-)

Answer 8

try this block of code if your .xml file has been generated somewhere in disk and if you have used List<T>:

//deserialization

XmlSerializer xmlser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Item>));
StreamReader srdr = new StreamReader(@"C:\serialize.xml");
List<Item> p = (List<Item>)xmlser.Deserialize(srdr);
srdr.Close();`

Note: C:\serialize.xml is my .xml file's path. You can change it for your needs.

Answer 9

Kevin's anser is good, aside from the fact, that in the real world, you are often not able to alter the original XML to suit your needs.

There's a simple solution for the original XML, too:

[XmlRoot("Cars")]
public class XmlData
{
    [XmlElement("Car")]
    public List<Car> Cars{ get; set; }
}

public class Car
{
    public string StockNumber { get; set; }
    public string Make { get; set; }
    public string Model { get; set; }
}

And then you can simply call:

var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XmlData));
var data = (XmlData)ser.Deserialize(XmlReader.Create(PathToCarsXml));

Answer 10

One liner:

var object = (Cars)new XmlSerializer(typeof(Cars)).Deserialize(new StringReader(xmlString));

Answer 11

Try this Generic Class For Xml Serialization & Deserialization.

public class SerializeConfig<T> where T : class
{
    public static void Serialize(string path, T type)
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(type.GetType());
        using (var writer = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create))
        {
            serializer.Serialize(writer, type);
        }
    }

    public static T DeSerialize(string path)
    {
        T type;
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
        using (var reader = XmlReader.Create(path))
        {
            type = serializer.Deserialize(reader) as T;
        }
        return type;
    }
}

Answer 12

How about a generic class to deserialize an XML document

//++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
// Generic class to load any xml into a class
// used like this ...
// YourClassTypeHere InfoList = LoadXMLFileIntoClass<YourClassTypeHere>(xmlFile);

using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

public static T LoadXMLFileIntoClass<T>(string xmlFile)
{
    T returnThis;
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
    if (!FileAndIO.FileExists(xmlFile))
    {
        Console.WriteLine("FileDoesNotExistError {0}", xmlFile);
    }
    returnThis = (T)serializer.Deserialize(new StreamReader(xmlFile));
    return (T)returnThis;
}

This part may, or may not be necessary. Open the XML document in Visual Studio, right click on the XML, choose properties. Then choose your schema file.

Answer 13

The idea is to have all level being handled for deserialization Please see a sample solution that solved my similar issue

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 
 <TRANSACTION_RESPONSE>
    <TRANSACTION>
        <TRANSACTION_ID>25429</TRANSACTION_ID> 
        <MERCHANT_ACC_NO>02700701354375000964</MERCHANT_ACC_NO> 
        <TXN_STATUS>F</TXN_STATUS> 
        <TXN_SIGNATURE>a16af68d4c3e2280e44bd7c2c23f2af6cb1f0e5a28c266ea741608e72b1a5e4224da5b975909cc43c53b6c0f7f1bbf0820269caa3e350dd1812484edc499b279</TXN_SIGNATURE> 
        <TXN_SIGNATURE2>B1684258EA112C8B5BA51F73CDA9864D1BB98E04F5A78B67A3E539BEF96CCF4D16CFF6B9E04818B50E855E0783BB075309D112CA596BDC49F9738C4BF3AA1FB4</TXN_SIGNATURE2> 
        <TRAN_DATE>29-09-2015 07:36:59</TRAN_DATE> 
        <MERCHANT_TRANID>150929093703RUDZMX4</MERCHANT_TRANID> 
        <RESPONSE_CODE>9967</RESPONSE_CODE> 
        <RESPONSE_DESC>Bank rejected transaction!</RESPONSE_DESC> 
        <CUSTOMER_ID>RUDZMX</CUSTOMER_ID> 
        <AUTH_ID /> 
        <AUTH_DATE /> 
        <CAPTURE_DATE /> 
        <SALES_DATE /> 
        <VOID_REV_DATE /> 
        <REFUND_DATE /> 
        <REFUND_AMOUNT>0.00</REFUND_AMOUNT> 
    </TRANSACTION>
  </TRANSACTION_RESPONSE> 

The above XML is handled in two level

  [XmlType("TRANSACTION_RESPONSE")]
public class TransactionResponse
{
    [XmlElement("TRANSACTION")]
    public BankQueryResponse Response { get; set; }

}

The Inner level

public class BankQueryResponse
{
    [XmlElement("TRANSACTION_ID")]
    public string TransactionId { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("MERCHANT_ACC_NO")]
    public string MerchantAccNo { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("TXN_SIGNATURE")]
    public string TxnSignature { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("TRAN_DATE")]
    public DateTime TranDate { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("TXN_STATUS")]
    public string TxnStatus { get; set; }


    [XmlElement("REFUND_DATE")]
    public DateTime RefundDate { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("RESPONSE_CODE")]
    public string ResponseCode { get; set; }


    [XmlElement("RESPONSE_DESC")]
    public string ResponseDesc { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute("MERCHANT_TRANID")]
    public string MerchantTranId { get; set; }

}

Same Way you need multiple level with car as array Check this example for multilevel deserialization

Answer 14

If you're getting errors using xsd.exe to create your xsd file, then use the XmlSchemaInference class as mentioned on msdn. Here's a unit test to demonstrate:

using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Schema;

[TestMethod]
public void GenerateXsdFromXmlTest()
{
    string folder = @"C:\mydir\mydata\xmlToCSharp";
    XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(folder + "\some_xml.xml");
    XmlSchemaSet schemaSet = new XmlSchemaSet();
    XmlSchemaInference schema = new XmlSchemaInference();

    schemaSet = schema.InferSchema(reader);


    foreach (XmlSchema s in schemaSet.Schemas())
    {
        XmlWriter xsdFile = new XmlTextWriter(folder + "\some_xsd.xsd", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
        s.Write(xsdFile);
        xsdFile.Close();
    }
}

// now from the visual studio command line type: xsd some_xsd.xsd /classes

Answer 15

You can just change one attribute for you Cars car property from XmlArrayItem to XmlElment. That is, from

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute("Cars", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public class Cars
{
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(Car))]
    public Car[] Car { get; set; }
}

to

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute("Cars", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public class Cars
{
    [XmlElement("Car")]
    public Car[] Car { get; set; }
}

Answer 16

My solution:

1. Use Edit > Past Special > Paste XML As Classes to get the class in your code
2. Try something like this: create a list of that class (List<class1>), then use the XmlSerializer to serialize that list to a xml file.
3. Now you just replace the body of that file with your data and try to deserialize it.

Code:

StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(@"C:\Users\duongngh\Desktop\Newfolder\abc.txt");
XmlSerializer xml = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Class1[]));
var a = xml.Deserialize(sr);
sr.Close();

NOTE: you must pay attention to the root name, don't change it. Mine is "ArrayOfClass1"