XML Deserialization how to

Question

i have the following XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<a>
    <b attr0="">
        <c>
            <d attr1="" attr2="">
                <e>
                    <f/>
                    <g/>
                    <h/>
                    <i/>
                </e>
            </d>
                    <!-- ...more d's -->
        </c>
    </b>
    <b>
        <c>
            <d attr1="" attr2="">
                <e>
                    <f/>
                    <g/>
                    <h/>
                    <i/>
                </e>
            </d>
                    <!-- ...more d's -->
        </c>        
    </b>
    <!-- ...more b's -->
</a>

I want to deserialize it into C# objects, i am using the following classes:

Class a:

[XmlRoot(ElementName = "a")]
public class a
{
    [XmlElement("b")]
    List<b> bs = new List<b>();
}

Class b:

public class b
{
    [XmlAttribute("attr0")]
    String attr0{ get; set; }
    [XmlElement("c")]
    c c1 = new c();
}

Class c:

public class c
{
    [XmlElement("d")]
    List<d> ds = new List<d>();
}

Class d:

public class d
{
    [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "attr1")]
    String attr1{ get; set; }
    [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "attr2")]
    String attr2{ get; set; }
    [XmlElement("e")]
    List<e> es = new List<e>(); 
}

and Class e:

public class e
{
    [XmlText]
    String f { get; set; }
    [XmlText]
    String g { get; set; }
    [XmlText]
    String h { get; set; }
    [XmlText]
    String i { get; set; }
}

And with the following code i try to deserialize it:

    public a deserialize()
    {
        XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(a));
        System.IO.TextReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(@"C:\file.xml");
        object obj = deserializer.Deserialize(reader);
        a XmlData = (a)obj;
        reader.Close();
        return a;
    }

Well right now, nothing is working. I was trying to add a XMLArray tag on it, but didn't work. You guys would do me a big favor for some good advice :)

Answer 1

There are two issues in your code.

1) Declare your class members' access modifiers that you want to de/serialize to public like this. The default serialization implementation only works with public members.

[XmlRoot(ElementName = "a")]
public class a
{
    [XmlElement("b")]
    public List<b> bs = new List<b>();
}

2) You can't declare multiple [XmlText] in a single object, in your case class e. Change them to [XmlElement], instead.

public class e
{
    [XmlElement]
    public String f { get; set; }
    [XmlElement]
    public String g { get; set; }
    [XmlElement]
    public String h { get; set; }
    [XmlElement]
    public String i { get; set; }
}

Then it will work.

Answer 2

XElement xmlFile= new XElement("a",
                                new XElement("b",
                                    new XElement("c",
                                        new XElement("d", new XAttribute("attr1"," ") , new XAttribute("attr2"," ")),
                                        new XElement("e", new XElement("f"), new XElement("g"), new XElement("h"), new XElement("i")),
                                    new XElement("c",
                                         new XElement("d", new XAttribute("attr1"," ") , new XAttribute("attr2"," ")),
                                         new XElement("e", new XElement("f"), new XElement("g"), new XElement("h"), new XElement("i")),
                                    new XElement("Department", new XAttribute("Name","Automobile"))
                                ),
                                new XElement("b",
                                    new XElement("c",
                                        new XElement("d", new XAttribute("attr1"," ") , new XAttribute("attr2"," ")),
                                        new XElement("e", new XElement("f"), new XElement("g"), new XElement("h"), new XElement("i")),
                                    new XElement("c",
                                         new XElement("d", new XAttribute("attr1"," ") , new XAttribute("attr2"," ")),
                                         new XElement("e", new XElement("f"), new XElement("g"), new XElement("h"), new XElement("i"))
                                )

); xmlFile.Save(@"D:\file.xml");

try this if it helps resolving your problem. And you can deserialize in the same manner i have serialized.

EDIT:

try to add the last line in your code too. I tried adding in the part of code section but it's not happening somehow.