C# Tutorial - XML Serialization

Thank you very much! Very clear.

TextWriter implements IDisposable; this code would be safer if it used the using statement.

I am doubt that it is possible deserilize the XML file without doing the serilize object? That means if I have a XML file created manually and then I just want to get the object information in the project(read only), is it possible? And how?

Well.. And if i want

6,9 07-11-1997

?? (Custom DateTime and Flot number format)..

This explanation has been very helpful and is nice and clear, thanks!

However, a complete code listing at the bottom with all the usings included, and where the code blocks should be placed in either a single file or in Visual Studio, would be even more helpful to us newbies.

thanks for the great article.

in your example above, if i want to set attribute for element name lets say Rating, how can i do that? or do i have to create Rating as Class and apply attribute there? i think i can do that way but creating new class just to fulfill that doesn't seem quite right.

any suggestion?

cheers

Can I do deserialize and deserialize specific node not entrie XML doc? for example I want to deserialzie only data in below xml file. Can it be done?

20

20

This is a great tutorial I found.

Thanks a lot to provide this kind of clear tutorial.

dear sir Request you to solve my issue.i.e. Let me know how to use jquery inside a xml file.if iam using so its giving err0r as 1.\$ is not defined 2.script is not defined

Is there any way to serialize an object that has private or internal set accessors, e.g:

public propertyname {private set; get; }

I can't seem to get it to work.

Thank for the important article. i'm trying to do serilization with files that are writing to an isolate storage - without success. do you have an idea why??

Extremely helpful, Reddest. Always love your blog for the best and most useful information - keep up the good work!

Excellent tutorial! I look forward to reading more.

Saved lot of my time.Easy to follow. Keep this great works coming.

im trying to do almost the same thing eccapt from that i want to store the stream in a string on a hidden field on the page but it seems that the deserialization dosnt work if i put it on a string (if ichange the source to a file it works like charm) any idieas ?

Thanks a lot. good article to beign with. tried the examples and really good.

Thanks a lot for the example I want to ask you how to serialize a complex object, I mean an object with some generic list property type. I have always an invalid operation exception or error when creating the xml document or a reflection error.

structure sample:

object1 prop1 string prop2 int prop3 List

object2 prop1 string prop2 string prop3 List

Nice article. But i'm stuck on one issue where i want to write comment in between the node. How can i achieve that using serialization?

For e.g. I want the output like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SomeOtherObject>
   <!-- #if (condition) -->
  <MyPropertyA>10</MyPropertyA>
  <!-- #endif -->
  <MyPropertyB>20</MyPropertyB>
</SomeOtherObject>

This was fantastic information, thank you. Now I have another question. What if what the document I want to read from XML has the following structure in one of its subtrees? how should I create the object?

<NameValuePairs>
    <Name>Alpha</Name>
    <Value>1.7</Value>
    <Name>Beta</Name>
    <Value>0.3</Value>
    <Name>OtherName</Name>
    <Value>OtherValue</Value>
    <Name>ManyOtherNamesCouldFollow</Name>
    <Value>WithTheirRespectiveValues</Value>
</NameValuePairs>

Would using a list or even a Dictionary work?

Thanks in advance.

How would you serialize and deserialize this?

<PropertyNames>
  <Name># Plate</Name>                      
  <Name>G Plate</Name>                  
  <Name>C Plate</Name>                  
  <Name>1 Head</Name>                   
  <Name>2 Heads</Name>                  
  <Name>3 Heads</Name>      
</PropertyNames>

Thanks for the simple explanation of serialization

Nice article, but I have one question.

I understand everything up to the point where you write the List to the xml file. I understand how to create a List and how to add elements to the List and even how to write the List to the xml file. Your example though shows a root element of ArrayOfMovie and then Movie elements inside that. I cannot see how you create the ArrayOfMovie. When I do it, I get a bunch of Movie elements and an error about more than one root element. I have looked over the code several times, but I do not see how you did that. Could you explain in more detail or provide a file that I could download to look at?

Great article!

If I have:

public class Movie {
    string Name;
    Actor LeadActor;
}

public class Actor {
    string Name;
    DateTime DOB;
}

And I want to serialize the Movie like this:

<Movie>
    <Name>Casino Royale</Name>
    <LeadActor>Daniel Craig</LeadActor>
</Movie>

How do I do that? That is, how do I tell the Movie class to only serialize the Name property of the LeadActor member instead of the whole object?

Thanks!

Well stanbeard, that's the question i've been looking for the answer all day long.

DeSerialize does not work can anybody help.I have very little knowledge about this

public string SerializeObject(Object objToSerialize)
        {
               XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer  (objToSerialize.GetType());
            System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
            System.IO.StringWriter writer = new System.IO.StringWriter(sb);

            ser.Serialize(writer, objToSerialize);
            return writer.ToString();
        }
        public object DeSerializeAnObject(string xmlOfAnObject)
        {
            Object obj = new Object();
            System.IO.StringReader read = new StringReader(xmlOfAnObject);
            System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer serializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
            System.Xml.XmlReader reader = new XmlTextReader(read);
            try
            {
                obj = (object)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
                return obj;
            }
            catch { throw; }
            finally { reader.Close(); read.Close(); read.Dispose(); }
        }

No Its not empty.. I get an Exception.

Invalid Operation Exception "There is an error in XML document (2, 2)."

Inner Exception caught is {" was not expected."}

No Its not empty.. I get an Exception.

Invalid Operation Exception "There is an error in XML document (2, 2)."

Inner Exception caught is TaskListDO xmlns='' was not expected."

I am Trying to Serialize an object in my Web application(Serializing works) and when i try to Deserialize the same string in WebServices it gives the exception..and one more Doubt is in reference.cs the class which has to be serialized has to be autogenerated is it.. if yes its not generated in my reference.cs file

Hello,

I dint make any changes but I am getting the class which has to be serialized in reference.cs I mean it is autogenerated... But now my problem is after deserializing the XML string I am not able to get the values passed from my application...

Please Help

Thank you very..... much for an excellent article. This is very clear. I read lots of stuff related to xmlserializer but nothing else was this clear. Keep up the good work.

Hi, Thanks allot, that was extremely wonderful :-)

but the code does not run for me!

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

namespace XML007
{
    class Class1
    {
        public class Movie
        {
            public string Title
            { get; set; }

            public int Rating
            { get; set; }

            public DateTime ReleaseDate
            { get; set; }
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Movie movie = new Movie();
            movie.Title = "Starship Troopers";
            movie.ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("11/7/1997");
            movie.Rating = 6;

            SerializeToXML(movie);
        }

        static public void SerializeToXML(Movie movie)
        {
// I get erro in the line below, the class must be public, which it is !!!            
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Movie));
            TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(@"C:\movie.xml");
            serializer.Serialize(textWriter, movie);
            textWriter.Close();
        }
    }
}

how to de-serialize it ?

I have problems in serializing a list. Here is my class:

public partial class ProblemType 
{
        private List<DateTimeType> dateTimeField;
        public ProblemType()
        {
            this.dateTimeField = new List<DateTimeType>();
        }
        public List<DateTimeType> DateTime
        {
            get
            {
                return this.dateTimeField;
            }
            set
            {
                this.dateTimeField = value;
            }
        }
 }
public partial class DateTimeType
    {
        private CodedDescriptionType2 typeField;
        private string exactDateTimeField;
        public DateTimeType()
        {
            this.typeField = new CodedDescriptionType2();
        }
        public CodedDescriptionType2 Type
        {
            get
            {
                return this.typeField;
            }
            set
            {
                this.typeField = value;
            }
        }
        public string ExactDateTime
        {
            get
            {
                return this.exactDateTimeField;
            }
            set
            {
                this.exactDateTimeField = value;
            }
        }
    }

Here is how I call the code:

ProblemType pt =  new ProblemType();
pt.DateTime = GetDateTimeRange();

public List<DateTimeType> GetDateTimeRange()
{
    List< DateTimeType> dttList = new List< DateTimeType>();
    DateTimeType dtt1 = new CCRG.DateTimeType();
DateTimeType dtt2 = new CCRG.DateTimeType();
                dtt1.Type = GetType1();
                dtt1.ExactDateTime = GetExactdateTime1();
                dttList.Add(dtt1);
 dtt2.Type = GetType2();
                dtt2.ExactDateTime = GetExactdateTime2();
                dttList.Add(dtt2);
            return dttList;
}

When I run the code I get serialized XML like this: [language] Episode Begin Datetime 04/01/2010 Episode End Datetime 04/02/2010 [/langauge] There is slight problem. I have to rid of the tag because the receiving program does not validate the tag. IMy sericalzed XMl should look like this: [language] Episode Begin Datetime 04/01/2010 Episode End Datetime 04/02/2010 [/langauge] Can you tell me how to this problem solved?

The later part of my posting got garbled. Sorry. I am repostng only that part. The serialized output looks like this: [language] Episode Begin Datetime 04/01/2010 Episode End Datetime 04/02/2010 [/language]

There is slight problem. I have to get rid of the tag because the receiving program does not validate the tag. My sericalzed XML should look like this: [language] ProblemType> Episode Begin Datetime 04/01/2010 Episode End Datetime 04/02/2010 [/language] Can you please tell me how to get this problem solved?

Hi,

This is truly very nice and easy article. Thanx. Keep up the good work.

Hi,

How will the code change for a more complicated XML like the following:

<resultset>
  <table>
    <name>Results</name>
    <data>
      <row>
        <field name="USER_ID" type="NUMBER">6201</field>
        <R name="LOGIN" type="VARCHAR2">nsawnan1</field>
        <field name="FIRST_NAME" type="VARCHAR2">Navin</field>
        <field name="LAST_NAME" type="VARCHAR2">Sawnani</field>
        <field name="DELETED" type="NUMBER">0</field>
        <field name="IS_ADMIN" type="NUMBER">0</field>
      </row>
    </data>
  </table>
</resultset>

I need to be able to represent a user from this, with the attributes USER_ID, LOGIN, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, DELETED and IS_ADMIN.

I have followed the steps detailed above and came up with the following class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace CS.Dtm.SecurityData.Client
{
    [Serializable]
    [XmlRoot("resultset")]
    public class User: IUser
    {
        [XmlAttribute("USER_ID")]
        private int _userId;
        [XmlAttribute("LOGIN")]
        private string _login;
        [XmlAttribute("FIRST_NAME")]
        private string _firstName;
        [XmlAttribute("LAST_NAME")]
        private string _lastName;
        [XmlAttribute("DELETED")]
        private int _deleted;
        [XmlAttribute("IS_ADMIN")]
        private int _isAdmin;


        public User(){ }

        public int UserId { get { return this._userId; } set { _userId = value; } }
        public string Login { get { return this._login; } set { _login = value; } }
        public string FirstName { get { return this._firstName; } set { _firstName = value; } }
        public string LastName { get { return this._lastName; } set { _lastName = value; } }
        public int Deleted { get { return this._deleted; } set { _deleted = value; } }
        public int IsAdmin { get { return this._isAdmin; } set { _isAdmin = value; } }

        #region IUser Members

        #endregion
    }
}

But it will still not compile - it is complaining that " Can you please be kind and advise on this?

When I serialize a bool array I get an output similar to:

<ArrayOfBoolean>
  <boolean>false</boolean>
  <boolean>false</boolean>
  <boolean>false</boolean>
</ArrayOfBoolean>

How do I get it to look like:

<ArrayOfBoolean>
  <boolean Index="0">false</boolean>
  <boolean Index="1">false</boolean>
  <boolean Index="2">false</boolean>
</ArrayOfBoolean>

I want to write an attribute and value at the same time.

Thanks, Geoff

Apologies if this didn't post in xml format. I won't "crud" up the page again.

Freaking AWESOME example thanx!

Very useful. Thanks.

Hi I can't seem to resolved this issue

System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled Message=There is an error in XML document (1, 2). Source=System.Xml StackTrace: at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader, String encodingStyle, XmlDeserializationEvents events) at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(TextReader textReader) at ConsoleApplication1.Program.DeserializeFromXML3(String xml) in C:\WPF in Two Weeks\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\Program.cs:line 138 at ConsoleApplication1.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\WPF in Two Weeks\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\Program.cs:line 21 at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String[] args) at System.AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly(String assemblyFile, Evidence assemblySecurity, String[] args) at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly() at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean ignoreSyncCtx) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart() InnerException: System.InvalidOperationException Message= was not expected. Source=wzmj2ehc StackTrace: at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderList1.Read3_ArrayOfMovies() InnerException:

[Serializable] [XmlRoot("Movies")] public class Movies { [XmlElement("ID")] public int ID { get; set; }

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

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

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

[XmlElement("Price")] public decimal Price { get; set; }

}

this is my xml fragment.

<AllMovies>
  <Movies>
    <ID>1</ID>
    <Title>When Harry Met Sally</Title>    
    <ReleaseDate>1989-01-14T00:00:00</ReleaseDate>
    <Genre>Comedy</Genre>
    <Price>6.95</Price>
  </Movies>
</AllMovies>

Thanks so much

Thanks a lot for this post - very clear and very helpful!

Hi! I have a question:

Let's say, you have about one hundred entries(movies) in your collection, and you do not want to overwrite the file, every time you add an entry.

What would you do, if you wanted to just add another movie to your xml file?

Trying to deserialize a single movie into an existing file via xmldeserializer will result in an error message, as it is only made for writing a new xml file including version info etc.

Here is my code:

//load the document from stream
XDocument objDoc = XDocument.Load(objStream);

//get the collection node, that contains all elements //(movies) , and create a writer
XmlWriter objWriter = objDoc.Elements().First(objElement => objElement.Name == "Collection").CreateWriter();

                System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer objSerializer =new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(objItem.GetType());
objSerializer.Serialize(objWriter, objItem)

This is the error message I have been talking about: {"WriteStartDocument cannot be called on writers created with ConformanceLevel.Fragment."}

Thank you very much

Nice tutorial, it was really interesting. Also there a simple tutorial on XML :-

http://zeeshanumardotnet.blogspot.com/2011/05/xml-serilization-tutorial.html

Hey, Is there something special you have to do to get this code to work with service contracts?

Here's some example code:

    [ServiceContract]
    public partial class MovieService
    {
        [WebGet(UriTemplate = "Movie")]
        [OperationContract]
        Movie GetMovie()
        {
            return new Movie();
        }
    }

    public class Movie
    {
        [XmlAttribute("MovieName")]
        public string Title
        { get; set; }

        [XmlElement("MovieRating")]
        public float Rating
        { get; set; }

        [XmlElement("MovieReleaseDate")]
        public DateTime ReleaseDate
        { get; set; }
    }

This code serialized the xml but leaves ReleaseDate as ReleaseDate rather than MovieReleaseDate.

Thank you.

Excellent for a fresher to learn... Thank u.

Thank you for the clear explanation.

This is a fantastic article. you have saved me a bunch. It's simple and complete. Thanks so much

xyz Male can any one help me how could i update the name and gender after deserlization the xml.

<DynamicObject xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <name>Location1</name>
  <backcolor>255,255,203,179</backcolor>
  <forecolor>255,0,0,0</forecolor>
  <status>Available</status>
  <locationX>0</locationX>
  <locationY>0</locationY>
  <width>592</width>
  <height>520</height>
  <noOfChilds>2</noOfChilds>
  <backgroundImageLayout>0</backgroundImageLayout>
</DynamicObject> 

xyz Male

can any one help me how could i update the name and gender after deserlization the xml.

how could i update the satus with new status or any other. after deserlization the xml.

<DynamicObject xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <name>Location1</name>
  <backcolor>255,255,203,179</backcolor>
  <forecolor>255,0,0,0</forecolor>
  <status>Available</status>
  <locationX>0</locationX>
  <locationY>0</locationY>
  <width>592</width>
  <height>520</height>
  <noOfChilds>2</noOfChilds>
  <backgroundImageLayout>0</backgroundImageLayout>
</DynamicObject> 

Thanks!

Thanks for the post

My XMl file has a namespace. How can I deserealize. How can I deserealize with a namespace in my XML

Unhandled Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: There is an error in XML document (5, 2). ---> System.InvalidOperationException: was not expected.

Thanks for taking the time to put this up! So valuable!

Thanks for the post!

Nice

can i serialize object that is recursive ?

Thanks a lot. I have learned what exactly Serialization is.

Starship Troopers rating ought to be 1.9. :)

Very good example for XML serialization. Thanks a lot.

Real good and simple example thx a lot

This article gave me a much clear picture regarding serialization.Thanks a lot!

Very, very informative - thank you ! I'd suggest also adding reasonably clean example of common problem - how to remove namespace reference from RootElement, such as found here:

http://www.diaryofaninja.com/blog/2011/07/19/xmlserializer--removing-namespace-amp-schema-declarations-xmlnsxsi-xmlxsd

On some occassions (e.g. import to TestLink) this information isn't necessary, and even distrubs.

Good, Very Good Job. Thanks!!!!!! :)

Thank You:)

The example works, thanks a lot!

Thanks, this was very helpful!

thanks bro..good job

Thank you!

HI! I want to seilize a pdfConverter object to xml file. i get an error: "To be XML serializable, types which inherit from ICollection must have an implementation of Add(System.String) at all levels of their inheritance hierarchy. System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection does not implement Add(System.String)".

Is there any way to serilze the pdfConvereter object?

thank you very very much for your helpful article :)

very good

Good! It's Exectly What Iv'e Searched! Thank you very much!

hi sir, very thanking you sir, this is very use full to me, and am also working some company, so i requesting to u please forward total material regarding customizing our xml format material to my mail id: vamsi.r11@gmail.com

I am new to C# and trying to understand the deserializer Example below for me is missing something.. i wanted to have one program create the XML, which it does, but then I wanted a separate program to deserialize the XML, but it always complains. "Error 1 } expected c:\users\mike.keeney-robinson\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\XML008\XML008\Program.cs 28 10 XML008 "

[language] namespace XML008 { class Program { public class Movie { public string Title { get; set; }

public int Rating { get; set; }

public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; } } static void Main(string[] args) { static List DeserializeFromXML() { XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List)); TextReader textReader = new StreamReader(@"C:\movie.xml"); List movies; movies = (List)deserializer.Deserialize(textReader); textReader.Close(); return movies; } } } } [/language]

Thank you so much for making a clear and simple XML tutorial. This is exactly what I needed.

Great tutorial, really helped alot.

To learn more on XML Serialization and Deserialization visit this links.

XML Serialization : http://jayeshsorathia.blogspot.com/2012/08/net-tips-c-tips-xml-serialization-of-custom-class-objects.html

XML Deserialization : http://jayeshsorathia.blogspot.com/2012/08/net-tips-c-tips-xml-deserialization.html

These links contains samples to download.

Very nice, clear and helpful article. Thank you very much and keep the good work continue. May god give you a great success in life.

Very Helpful! Thank you very much, helped a lot!

Thanks for a great article

An awesome article...thank you very much ...

Thank you for all your great articles. You're making a difference!

Bravo. Yes, indeed - an excellent article. Highly useful, rare excellent comprehensible writing style, and just brilliant logic. I can actually use everything here without going off to some other search to understand what's presented. Thanks! Cheers.