convert List of string array into xml

Question

I need to convert list of array into xml. In the list the first object is the elements of the xml and from second object onwards it is the values of the elements.

For eg:

list[0]={"firstname","lastname","age","empid"}
list[1]={"john","maxwell","31","101"}
list[2]={"max","lee","45","102"}

Now using above list I need to create an XML file, as mentioned above list[0] needs to used as XML elements and list[1] & list[2] are values for those elements. final XML will look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<EmployeeRecords>
    <Employee>      
        <firstname>john</firstname>
        <lastname>maxwell</lastname>
        <age>31</age>
        <empid>101</empid>
    </Employee>
    <Employee>
        <firstname>Max</firstname>
        <lastname>lee</lastname>
        <dob>45</dob>
        <empid>102</empid>
    </Employee>
</EmployeeRecords>

I have tried using XELement class but I am unable to understand how to pass element names dynamically in it.

XElement xmlout = new XElement("EmployeeRecords", list.Select(i => new XElement("Employee", i.Select(tag=>new XElement("Employee",tag)))));

I have also tried creating elements dynamically using XmlDocument but their also it is not working. Please guide regarding this as I am very new to XML file formats.

Pavel Koryakin · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-13 11:28:32Z

1

Here is the solution. Note that there is the 2nd parameter for Zip method, that allows you to implement more appropriate names for tuple fields names, instead of First and Second.

The code

using System.Xml.Linq;

string[][] data =
{
    new[] { "firstname", "lastname", "age", "empid" },
    new[] { "john", "maxwell", "31", "101" },
    new[] { "max", "lee", "45", "102" }
};

var xmlout = new XElement("EmployeeRecords",
    data.Skip(1).Select(_ => new XElement("Employee",
        // Zip joins two lists - names at data[0] and values, which are in _
        data[0].Zip(_).Select(_=>new XElement(_.First, _.Second))
    )))
    .ToString();

Console.Write(xmlout);

Output

<EmployeeRecords>
  <Employee>
    <firstname>john</firstname>
    <lastname>maxwell</lastname>
    <age>31</age>
    <empid>101</empid>
  </Employee>
  <Employee>
    <firstname>max</firstname>
    <lastname>lee</lastname>
    <age>45</age>
    <empid>102</empid>
  </Employee>
</EmployeeRecords>

edited May 13, 2022 at 11:28

answered May 13, 2022 at 11:23

Pavel Koryakin

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5 Comments

ishaan Gupta Over a year ago

data[0].Zip(_) is throwing error as it cannot take only 1 argument

Pavel Koryakin Over a year ago

What version of .net do you use?

Pavel Koryakin Over a year ago

try this: data[0].Zip(_, (name, val) => (name, val)).Select(_=>new XElement(_.name, _.val))

ishaan Gupta Over a year ago

my .net version is 4.6.2

ishaan Gupta Over a year ago

thank you so much for this answer, it is working perfectly. For me the below one worked after updating language version to 7.1. I have marked both as right answer as someone else might find the upper one correct.

Adok · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-13 11:08:04Z

0

What you are looking for is called XML Serialization. There is a good introduction to it available at: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/introducing-xml-serialization

answered May 13, 2022 at 11:08

Adok

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