How to catch/send XML doc with various sub arrays?

Question

I am working with some web services and I ran into some puzzle that I cannot resolve. I am working with arrays of objects within an array of another object within an array of a main object.

I am using various objects like this:

public class OBJECT1

{

public string item1;

public string item2;

public string item3;

}

public class OBJECT2

{

public string item1;

public string item2;

public OBJECT1[] item3;

}

public class OBJECT3

{

public string item1;

public string item2;

public OBJECT2[] item3;

}

So my puzzle comes when I consult a database based on one element within one of the 3 objects.

Let me explain:

When I search one element from OBJECT1, I can get 1 or more items from the other objects. The question is: how can I put all the information within a table or an XML doc or a dataset? I really do not have any clue to where to start, since I want to make a structre like this:

Object3[N]

item1

item2

Object2[1] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

Object2[2] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

Object2[3] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

. . . Object2[N] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

.

.

.

Object3[N]

item1

item2

Object2[1] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

Object2[2] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

Object2[3] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

. . . Object2[N] ítem1 item2

 Object1[1]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[2]
     item1
     item2
     item3
  Object1[3]
     .
     .  
     .
  Object1[N]

I really do not know where to start catching this. I already got the structure, but I need a hint as to where to start. I hope you guys can help me.

I am working with Visual Studio 2008 C# and SQL Server and web services.

I hope anyone can help me with this, thanks anyway.

Greetings.

Answer 1

You can use the built in DataContract functionality to turn your object graph into an XML document with the nesting that you mentioned.

Two parts:

1. Annotate your classes with the appropriate attributes.

   [DataContract(Namespace = "DataContracts")]
   public class Foo
   {
       [DataMember]
       public string First;
   
       [DataMember]
       public string Second;
   
       [DataMember]
       public string Third;
   
   }
   
   [DataContract(Namespace = "DataContracts")]
   public class Bar
   {
       [DataMember]
       public string First;
   
       [DataMember]
       public string Second;
   
       [DataMember]
       public Foo[] ManyFoos;
   }
   
   [DataContract(Namespace = "DataContracts")]
   public class Root
   {
       [DataMember]
       public string First;
   
       [DataMember]
       public string Second;
   
       [DataMember]
       public Bar[] ManyBars;
   }
   

2. Use the DataContractSerializer to transform your object graph into an XML document.

   var root = new Root()
   {
       ... snip, object initialization ...
   };
   
   var serializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Root));
   var xmlStringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
   using (var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(xmlStringBuilder, new XmlWriterSettings() { Indent = true }))
   {
       serializer.WriteObject(xmlWriter, root);
   }
   
   var xmlString = xmlStringBuilder.ToString();
   

This produces the following XML (for my example anyway).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Root xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="DataContracts">
  <First>Root01_First</First>
  <ManyBars>
    <Bar>
      <First>Bar01_First</First>
      <ManyFoos>
        <Foo>
          <First>Foo01_First</First>
          <Second>Foo01_Second</Second>
          <Third>Foo01_Third</Third>
        </Foo>
        <Foo>
          <First>Foo02_First</First>
          <Second>Foo02_Second</Second>
          <Third>Foo02_Third</Third>
        </Foo>
      </ManyFoos>
      <Second>Bar01_Second</Second>
    </Bar>
    <Bar>
      <First>Bar02_First</First>
      <ManyFoos>
        <Foo>
          <First>Foo03_First</First>
          <Second>Foo03_Second</Second>
          <Third>Foo03_Third</Third>
        </Foo>
      </ManyFoos>
      <Second>Bar02_Second</Second>
    </Bar>
  </ManyBars>
  <Second>Root01_Second</Second>
</Root>