Deserialization of XML

Question

Trying to deserialize a XML log file. And cannot seem to get anything but Error in XML Document(0,0). I am guessing it has something to do with my class but I cannot seem to find a solution. I cannot change the XML formatting as this is a log file coming from a server (just simplified)

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<POSLog>
<Transaction>
  <RetailStoreID>1</RetailStoreID>
  <SequenceNumber>2</SequenceNumber>
</Transaction>
<Transaction>
  <RetailStoreID>1</RetailStoreID>
  <SequenceNumber>3</SequenceNumber>
</Transaction>
</POSLog>

Class

[Serializable()]
public class Transaction
{
    [XmlElement("RetailStoreID")]
    public string RetailStoreID { get; set; }

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

}

[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
    [XmlArray("POSLog")]
    [XmlArrayItem("Transaction", typeof(Transaction))]
    public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}

Deserialize code

POSLog poslog = new POSLog();
string path = "POSLog.xml";
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(POSLog));
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(reader);

Found fix by switching from StreamReader to FileStream along with changes to the class. Changing encoding didn't seem to help when using the StreamReader.

1) Need Inner exceptions, 2) (offtopic) You use a bit too much attributes. — Kovpaev Alexey, Aug 05 '16 at 15:19
Show the stacktrace and in particular the whole exception (the inner exception). — MakePeaceGreatAgain, Aug 05 '16 at 15:24
Since the error is at (0,0), meaning the first character of the first line, I'm guessing it's because your XML file was encoded using UTF with a byte order mark. Try adding an Encoding to your StreamReader. — Heretic Monkey, Aug 05 '16 at 15:26
Possible duplicate of [XmlException while deserializing xml file in UTF-16 encoding format](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25298355/xmlexception-while-deserializing-xml-file-in-utf-16-encoding-format) — Heretic Monkey, Aug 05 '16 at 15:27
@MikeMcCaughan - The `StreamReader` should detect & consume the BOM automatically. See the [reference source](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/#mscorlib/system/io/streamreader.cs,181) where `true` is passed for `detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks`. — dbc, Aug 05 '16 at 15:31
I was not able to recreate your issue, plausibly because it's the encoding issue others have mentioned. But I wasn't able to deserialize your XML because according to your attributing, your `Transaction` array is serialized as an element named `POSLog`, within the outer `POSLog` element: ``. So that issue will come up when you get the encoding squared away. — 15ee8f99-57ff-4f92-890c-b56153, Aug 05 '16 at 15:33
If you do [`File.ReadAllBytes()`](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.file.readallbytes(v=vs.110).aspx) on your XML file, what are the first 20 or so bytes in the file? — dbc, Aug 05 '16 at 15:42
Using the answer below of treating the Transaction as an Element was part of the issue, the main thing that solved my issue was using a FileStream instead of the StreamReader. Was getting inner exceptions of root element not found. Switching to the FileStream fixed the issue. — WPete, Aug 05 '16 at 19:59

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 05 '16 at 15:35

I cannot reproduce the problem you are seeing. However, there is an issue with the POSLog class -- it needs to be defined as follows:

[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
    [XmlElement("Transaction")]
    public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}

Your XML has a root element <POSLog> containing a repeating sequence of <Transaction> elements. [XmlElement("Transaction")] maps the array to just such a one-level repeating sequence.

Example fiddle.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '16 at 21:49

Changing the Class to the follow above answer

[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
    [XmlElement("Transaction")]
    public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}

Along with Changing the following StreamReader lines

StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(reader);

To this:

FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(fs);

Fixed the issue I was having with the root element and I was able to deserialize the XML. Thanks to dbc for help in getting me started solving a solution for the first time in a forum!

Deserialization of XML

2 Answers2