C# convert Exception Object to an XML document

Question

I am wanting to be able to create an XML document to save to a SQL database from an Exception object. Is there a way to easily convert an exception object into an XML document? I want to be able to do something like:

public void WriteError(Exception ex)
{
    var doc = new XmlDocument();
    doc.Load(ex);
    sql.Insert(doc);
}

You may check this https://seattlesoftware.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/serializing-exceptions-to-xml/ — Navoneel Talukdar, Jan 12 '17 at 17:22
May have been answered here [How to Serialize an Exception Object in C#](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/486460/how-to-serialize-an-exception-object-in-c) — RamblinRose, Jan 12 '17 at 20:35

Forklift · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12T20:27:02.443

What you're looking for is XmlSerializer. Serializing is changing to string, the XmlSerializer takes it one step further. I use an extension method that writes the generated XML to a file, but you can adapt it for your own needs:

public static void WriteToXmlFile<T>(string filePath, T objectToWrite, bool append = false) where T : new()
    {
        TextWriter writer = null;
        try
        {
            var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
            writer = new StreamWriter(filePath, append);
            serializer.Serialize(writer, objectToWrite);
        }
        finally
        {
            if (writer != null)
                writer.Close();
        }
    }

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 12 '17 at 17:51

Using xml linq :

       public static void WriteError(Exception ex)
        {
            XDocument doc = new XDocument("Error", new object[] {
                new XElement("message", ex.Message),
                new XElement("stacktrace", ex.StackTrace),
                new XElement("helplink", ex.HelpLink)
            });

            sql.Insert(doc);
        }

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 12 '17 at 17:35

Here's how to do it with XmlSerializer as @Forklift suggested:

public void WriteError(Exception ex)
{
    XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Exception));
    using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream()) {
        xmlSerializer.Serialize(memoryStream, ex);
        var streamReader = new StreamReader(memoryStream);
        sql.Insert(streamReader.ReadToEnd());
    }
}

C# convert Exception Object to an XML document

3 Answers3