How to convert complex XML to .NET Class?

Question

I have this XML and just wondering how I can convert into C# class?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextScrollerItems xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

    <Item type="text" ID="234">
     <Text Color="Blue">
       Sample text...
     </Text>
    </Item>

    <Item type="image" ID="2456">
        <Image>
          clientLogo.png
        </Image>
    </Item>

    </TextScrollerItems>

You'll have to define clearly what your xml **can be**. Does the item child always change? What does it change to? — gideon, Feb 13 '12 at 12:05
See this topic, look at Method 2 to convert XML 2 CS without XSD : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/364253/how-to-deserialize-xml-document — Nolmë Informatique, May 12 '15 at 08:50

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

12

give a try to the XSD.exe tool shipped with Visual Studio. Here's some docs: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11317/From-XML-to-Strong-Types-in-C

answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

Giorgio Minardi

2,765
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score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:06

I'd recommend XML serialization using XmlSerializer. Basically, you need to create classes which correspond to the XML structure and the XmlSerializer takes care of the rest. If you have control over the XML format, it is better to first create the classes and than generate a sample xml via XmlSerializer which you can than fill with real data.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

3

Microsoft provide this free tool for generating classes from schema.

answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

Mujtaba Hassan

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

2

Transforming class instances to Xml and the other way around is called serialization/deserialization. You'll find a lot of articles on the internet on that topic, a good start here.

answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:07

vc 74

37,131
7
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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:24

The best solution is this one:

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11317/From-XML-to-Strong-Types-in-C

Write an XML structure (XML)
Create XSD file from XML file
Create C# classes from XSD file

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextScrollerItems xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

    <Item type="text" ID="234">
     <Text Color="Blue">
       Sample text...
     </Text>
    </Item>

    <Item type="image" ID="2456">
        <Image>
          clientLogo.png
        </Image>
    </Item>

    </TextScrollerItems>

XSD

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xs:schema id="TextScrollerItems" xmlns="" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">
  <xs:element name="TextScrollerItems" msdata:IsDataSet="true" msdata:UseCurrentLocale="true">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
        <xs:element name="Item">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element name="Image" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="0" />
              <xs:element name="Text" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:simpleContent msdata:ColumnName="Text_Text" msdata:Ordinal="1">
                    <xs:extension base="xs:string">
                      <xs:attribute name="Color" type="xs:string" />
                    </xs:extension>
                  </xs:simpleContent>
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
            <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="ID" type="xs:string" />
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:choice>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

C# classes

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generated>
//     This code was generated by a tool.
//     Runtime Version:2.0.50727.5448
//
//     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if
//     the code is regenerated.
// </auto-generated>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

using System.Xml.Serialization;

// 
// This source code was auto-generated by xsd, Version=2.0.50727.3038.
// 


/// <remarks/>
[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("xsd", "2.0.50727.3038")]
[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType=true)]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace="", IsNullable=false)]
public partial class TextScrollerItems {

    private TextScrollerItemsItem[] itemsField;

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("Item", Form=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)]
    public TextScrollerItemsItem[] Items {
        get {
            return this.itemsField;
        }
        set {
            this.itemsField = value;
        }
    }
}

/// <remarks/>
[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("xsd", "2.0.50727.3038")]
[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType=true)]
public partial class TextScrollerItemsItem {

    private string imageField;

    private TextScrollerItemsItemText[] textField;

    private string typeField;

    private string idField;

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(Form=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)]
    public string Image {
        get {
            return this.imageField;
        }
        set {
            this.imageField = value;
        }
    }

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("Text", Form=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified, IsNullable=true)]
    public TextScrollerItemsItemText[] Text {
        get {
            return this.textField;
        }
        set {
            this.textField = value;
        }
    }

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string type {
        get {
            return this.typeField;
        }
        set {
            this.typeField = value;
        }
    }

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string ID {
        get {
            return this.idField;
        }
        set {
            this.idField = value;
        }
    }
}

/// <remarks/>
[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("xsd", "2.0.50727.3038")]
[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType=true)]
public partial class TextScrollerItemsItemText {

    private string colorField;

    private string valueField;

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string Color {
        get {
            return this.colorField;
        }
        set {
            this.colorField = value;
        }
    }

    /// <remarks/>
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()]
    public string Value {
        get {
            return this.valueField;
        }
        set {
            this.valueField = value;
        }
    }
}

How to convert complex XML to .NET Class?

5 Answers5

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