Deserializing XML Into class with different members C#

Question

I am facing a problem in deserializing xml into a class object. The class has a slightly different structure than the xml, so am unable to deserialize it. Following is the main code

public class Customer
{
    [XmlElement(ElementName = "CustomerName")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

public class XmlCheck
{
    [XmlElement(ElementName = "Customer")]
    public Customer Customer { get; set; }

    public List<Customer> CustomersList { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static string xml = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" ?>
    <XmlCheck>
    <Customer>
    <CustomerName>Omer</CustomerName>
    </Customer>
    <Customer>
    <CustomerName>Ali</CustomerName>
    </Customer>
    </XmlCheck>";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XmlCheck), new XmlRootAttribute("XmlCheck"));
        using (var stringReader = new StringReader(xml))
        using (var reader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader))
        {
            var xmlResult = (XmlCheck)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
            xmlResult.CustomersList.Add(xmlResult.Customer);
            Console.WriteLine(xmlResult.Customer.Name);
        }
    }

Is there any way, to deserialize the xml into the customers list without having to insert that node inside the xml? Currently this only deserializes the first customer node that has name as 'Omer' and it adds that to the list.

I know how to accomplish the above by writing a custom xml reader, but need to use xml deserialization for this. However, if this isn't possible using xml deserialization, any way to achieve this using any customer (s/de)erializer?

I am using this xml with xml serializer and it works. The problem over here is I am unable to deserialize into the list member, it only deserializes the first customer node. If you think XmlSerializer won't work, any other serialization method, or maybe custom serializer, using which I can achieve this? — Omer Kahoot, Aug 17 '16 at 11:31

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Please try this:

public class Customer
{
    [XmlElement(ElementName = "CustomerName")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

[XmlRoot("XmlCheck")]
public class XmlCheck
{

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "Customer")]
    public List<Customer> CustomersList { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static string xml = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" ?>
<XmlCheck>
<Customer>
<CustomerName>Omer</CustomerName>
</Customer>
<Customer>
<CustomerName>Ali</CustomerName>
</Customer>
</XmlCheck>";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XmlCheck), new XmlRootAttribute("XmlCheck"));
        using (var stringReader = new StringReader(xml))
        using (var reader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader))
        {
            var xmlResult = (XmlCheck)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
            //xmlResult.CustomersList.Add(xmlResult.Customer);
            foreach(var c in xmlResult.CustomersList)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(c.Name);
            }
        }
    }
}

I got it from: Is it possible to deserialize XML into List<T>?

Tried this. The code doesn't go inside the foreach loop since the CustomersList count in this case returns 0, so no name is written on the console. — Omer Kahoot, Aug 17 '16 at 11:46
Did you copy the whole code including the [XmlRoot("XmlCheck")] ? — Lucian, Aug 17 '16 at 11:49
My bad, I left some code due to which it wasn't working, but after copying the full code. Yeah this works. — Omer Kahoot, Aug 17 '16 at 11:53

Deserializing XML Into class with different members C#

1 Answers1