How to deserialize xml using XmlArrayItem

Question

I want to deserialize xml like this:

<Product>
    <Classification>
        <NewClassification>1</NewClassification>
        <NewClassification>2</NewClassification>
        <NewClassification>3</NewClassification>
        <OldClassification>A</OldClassification>
        <OldClassification>B</OldClassification>
    </Classification>
</Product>

My classes are:

public class Product
{
    public Classification Classification { get; set; }
}

public class Classification
{
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(int), ElementName = "NewClassification")]
    public List<int> NewClassificationList { get; set; }
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(int), ElementName = "OldClassification")]
    public List<int> OldClassificationList { get; set; }
}

Why this code is wrong?

because A and B are not int literals?

Matt Ball
– Matt Ball

2009-12-09 16:09:16 +00:00
Commented Dec 9, 2009 at 16:09 — Matt Ball
– Matt Ball, Commented Dec 9, 2009 at 16:09

abatishchev · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-26 09:05:27Z

3

Apart from the "int literal" issue commented on by "Bears will eat you" above, you can't serialize your class in the way you want with what you've got (at least I can't think of a way to do it) without resorting to custom serialisation (e.g. implementing IXmlSerializable or some other method).

Your basic problem is that you have two seperate collections in Classification, which you want to appear as a single collection.

The IXmlSerialization route is pretty simple though. Just implement it as follows on your Classification class, and you'll get the desired result.

public class Classification : IXmlSerializable
{
    public List<int> NewClassificationList { get; set; }
    public List<string> OldClassificationList { get; set; }

    public void WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer)
    {
        foreach (var item in NewClassificationList)
        {
            writer.WriteElementString("NewClassification", item.ToString());
        }
        foreach (var item in OldClassificationList)
        {
            writer.WriteElementString("OldClassification", item.ToString());
        }
    }

    public System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema GetSchema()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

Added ReadXml implementation

ReadXml can be implemented as follows:

public void ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader)
{
    var product = new Product();

    product.Classification = new Classification { NewClassificationList = new List<int>(),  ldClassificationList = new List<string>()};

    reader.ReadStartElement("Classification");

    while (reader.NodeType != System.Xml.XmlNodeType.EndElement)
    {
        switch (reader.Name)
        {
            case "NewClassification":
                product.Classification.NewClassificationList.Add(reader.ReadElementContentAsInt());
                break;
            case "OldClassification":
                product.Classification.OldClassificationList.Add(reader.ReadElementContentAsString());
                break;
            default:
                throw new NotSupportedException("Unsupported node: " + reader.Name);
           } 
        }
        reader.ReadEndElement();
    }

edited Jul 26, 2011 at 9:05

abatishchev

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answered Dec 9, 2009 at 16:37

Rob Levine

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5 Comments

jlp Over a year ago

I don't insist that these classifications have to be List<int> or List<string>. It might be a custom class as well.

Rob Levine Over a year ago

OK. In any case, the custom serialization code above should produce exactly the output you have described in the question

jlp Over a year ago

How should I implement ReadXml() ? I basically want to deserialize XML into custom some class.

Rob Levine Over a year ago

Sample ReadXml implementation added

jlp Over a year ago

My example become more complicated so I'll ask separate question. stackoverflow.com/questions/1880983/…

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