Generating XML from multiple classes?

Question

i have another question on getting my XML serialization neat, which i can't seem to get right. my config file is as follows:

namespace SMCProcessMonitor
{
[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("Email-Settings")] 
     public class Config
{     
         [XmlElement("Recipient")]
         public string recipient;
         [XmlElement("Server-port")]
         public int serverport;
         [XmlElement("Username")]
         public string username;
         [XmlElement("Password")]
         public string password;
         [XmlElement("Program")]
         public List<Programs> mPrograms = new List<Programs>();
         public string serialId;
     }

     public class Email
    {

             public string Recipient
             {
                 get
                 {
                     return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.recipient;
                 }
                 set
                 {
                     SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.recipient = value;
                 }
             }

             public int ServerPort
             {
                 get
                 {
                     return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.serverport;
                 }
                 set
                 {
                     SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.serverport = value;
                 }
             }
             public string Username
             {
                 get
                 {
                     return SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.username;
                 }
                 set
                 {
                     SMCProcessMonitor.ConfigManager.mConfigurations.username = value;
                 }
             }
        public string Password { get; set; }

    }
         [Serializable()]
    public class Programs
{
        [XmlElement("Filename")] public string mFileName { get; set; }
        [XmlElement("Filepath")]public string mFilePath { get; set; }
}

         public class Database
         {
             public string mSerial { get; set; }
         }
         }

Ideally what i want to do is have each of these three classes (email settings, database and programs) have their own tags, like so

<Config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"               xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<email-settings>
  <Recipient>sadh</Recipient>
  <Server-port>23</Server-port>
  <Username>lkms</Username>
  <Password>kmkdvm</Password>
</email-settings>
<Program>
  <Filename>MerlinAlarm.exe</Filename>
  <Filepath>D:\Merlin\Initsys\Merlin\Bin\MerlinAlarm.exe</Filepath>
</Program>
<database-settings>
  <serialId>1</serialId>
</database-settings>
</Config>

But instead i get something that resembles this:

 <Config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
 <Recipient>blah</Recipient>
 <Server-port>1111</Server-port>
 <Username>blah</Username>
 <Password>blah</Password>
 <Program>
 <Filename>chrome.exe</Filename>
 <Filepath>
 C:\Users\Shane\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
 </Filepath>
 </Program>
 <serialId>1234</serialId>
 </Config>

Sorry to be such a bother, but this is doing my nut in now and im sure there's some fundamental logic i'm missing here..can anyone give me some pointers as to how to get this XML in the format i specified above? Thanks in advance, Shane.

Edit: My serialization class.

 namespace SMCProcessMonitor
{
public class ShanesXMLserializer
{
    private string  mFileAndPath;
    public Config   mConfigurations = null;
    public Config mConfigurationsProgram = null;



    public ShanesXMLserializer(string inFileAndPath)
    {
        mFileAndPath    = inFileAndPath;
        mConfigurations = new Config();

    }

    public bool Write()
    {
        try
        {
            XmlSerializer x = new XmlSerializer(mConfigurations.GetType());
            StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(mFileAndPath);
            x.Serialize(writer, mConfigurations);
            writer.Close();
            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Exception found while writing: " + ex.Message);
        };

        return false;
    }

    public bool Read()
    {
        try
        {
            XmlSerializer x = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Config));
            StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(mFileAndPath);
            mConfigurations = (Config)x.Deserialize(reader);
            reader.Close();
            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Exception found while reading: " + ex.Message);
        };

        return false;
    }

    public Config GetConfigEmail
    {
        get
        {
            return mConfigurations;
        }
    }


}

}

Edit 2: My new config file: @Craig - I'm using this config file, which is like you said but im still not getting the desired XML, shown after my config class.

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

namespace SMCProcessMonitor { [Serializable()]

     public class Config
{     

         public string recipient;
         public int serverport;
         public string username;
         public string password;
         public List<Programs> mPrograms = new List<Programs>();
         public string serialId;
    [XmlElement("email-settings")]
         public Email Email { get; set; }
         public Programs Programs { get; set; }
     [XmlElement("database-settings")]
         public Database Database { get; set; }


     }

     public class Email
    {
         [XmlElement("Recipient")]
         public string Recipient { get; set; }
            [XmlElement("Server-port")]
         public int ServerPort { get; set; }
         [XmlElement("Username")]
         public string Username { get; set; }
         [XmlElement("Password")]
         public string Password { get; set; }

    }
         [Serializable()]
    public class Programs
    {
        [XmlElement("Filename")] public string mFileName { get; set; }
        [XmlElement("Filepath")]public string mFilePath { get; set; }
    }

    public class Database
    {
        [XmlElement("SerialID")]
        public string mSerial { get; set; }
    }
    }

But i am still getting:

  <Config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <recipient>shane</recipient>
  <serverport>23</serverport>
  <username>oid</username>
  <password>jidj</password>
  <mPrograms/>
  </Config>

can you write the code section you are using for serialization? — daryal
– daryal, Commented Mar 23, 2012 at 12:20
Here is my serialization code. note that i'm running into an error now upon writing telling me that "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" since moving the variables to their respective classes. — Kestami
– Kestami, Commented Mar 23, 2012 at 13:56
@Shane'Shamus'Coulter using the serialization code you've added to your question, will output your desired XML using the class modifications I provided. To test it, you can copy the classes from my answer verbatim, populate a Config object and run it through the serialization code you posted. The only thing you need to change is your property getters and setters where applicable. — Craig
– Craig, Commented Mar 23, 2012 at 14:14
I think i'm derping left right and center. added the respective get/sets and still can't get it to output the way i want.. — Kestami
– Kestami, Commented Mar 23, 2012 at 14:21

Craig · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-23 19:00:35Z

2

This will give you the desired output:

public class Config
{
    [XmlElement("email-settings")]
    public Email Email { get; set; }

    public Program Program { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("database-settings")]
    public Database Database { get; set; }
}

public class Email
{
    public string Recipient { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("Server-port")]
    public int ServerPort { get; set; }

    public string Username { get; set; }
    public string Password { get; set; }
}

public class Program
{
    public string Filename { get; set; }

    public string Filepath { get; set; }
}

public class Database
{
    public string serialId { get; set; }
}

Here's a console application which will serialize an object to a file and produce the exact XML you are looking for. Just copy and paste it into a console application and take it from there.

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

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var config = new Config
            {
                Email = new Email
                {
                    Recipient = "sadh",
                    ServerPort = 23,
                    Username = "lkms",
                    Password = "kmkdvm"
                },
                Program = new Programs
                {
                    Filename = "MerlinAlarm.exe",
                    Filepath = @"D:\Merlin\Initsys\Merlin\Bin\MerlinAlarm.exe"
                },
                Database = new Database
                {
                    serialId = "1"
                }
            };

            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Config));

            var textWriter = new StreamWriter(@"C:\config.xml");
            serializer.Serialize(textWriter, config);
            textWriter.Close();

            Console.Read();
        }
    }

    #region [Classes]

    public class Config
    {
        [XmlElement("email-settings")]
        public Email Email { get; set; }

        public Programs Program { get; set; }

        [XmlElement("database-settings")]
        public Database Database { get; set; }
    }

    public class Email
    {
        public string Recipient { get; set; }

        [XmlElement("Server-port")]
        public int ServerPort { get; set; }

        public string Username { get; set; }
        public string Password { get; set; }
    }

    public class Programs
    {
        public string Filename { get; set; }

        public string Filepath { get; set; }
    }

    public class Database
    {
        public string serialId { get; set; }
    }

    #endregion
}

edited Mar 23, 2012 at 19:00

answered Mar 23, 2012 at 12:31

Craig

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12 Comments

Kestami Over a year ago

Should I add the declarations to their respective class, or leave them in config?

Craig Over a year ago

@Shane'Shamus'Coulter leave them in your Config class. That will give you the XML in the format you mention in your question. In your question though, you have a List<Program> in your Config class but that is not depicted in the desired XML output you provided.

Craig Over a year ago

The modifications I provided in my answer will give you the XML you are looking for. For a test, why don't you comment out your classes, copy and paste the classes I provided into your app, populate a Config object manually for testing only and run it though your serialization code.

Kestami Over a year ago

alright, lemme give it a go. not holding my breath though : D

Kestami Over a year ago

Might actually quit my day job ^^ i'm using the classes exactly as you've wrote in the answer, put my few variables in there and im still getting XML as i was before. My email settings and database settings simply won't serialize in their own class tags.

|

code4life · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-23 14:26:37Z

I'm going to suggest a totally sideways approach here, just for simplicity's and maintenance's sake.

What if you took the source XML file and generated an XSD schema?

For instance:

xsd.exe MyXMLFile1.xml

This will generate an XML schema file (MyXMLFile1.xsd). Take the schema and generate classes (again using xsd.exe):

xsd.exe /c MyXMLFile1.xsd

This will generate a guaranteed serializable POCO that you can use going forward. The class names and properties may not match what you have in your current POCO but it will generate the expected XML, as well as deserialize from the XML.

The added benefit is that going forward, you will only have to modify the source XML file, then run these 2 commands to maintain the POCO.

Hope that helps...

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