Deserialize XML in C# - Return null on wrong format

Question

I have thw following XML Code that I want to deserialize:

<a>
   <b> n/a </b>
</a>

Now b is normally an integer, but sometimes "n/a" for not available. Whenever I deserialize the above XML, I get an Exception that I use a wrong format... what is correct. But I need the int simply to be a null value

public class a
{
    Nullable<int> b;
}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 20 '11 at 10:02

1

The only way you could do that would be to use something like:

[XmlIgnore]
public int? B {get;set;}

public bool ShouldSerializeBSerialized() {
    return B.HasValue;
}
[XmlElement("b")]
public string BSerialized {
    get { return B.ToString(); }
    set {
       int tmp;
       if(value != null && int.TryParse(value.Trim(), out tmp))
       {
           B = tmp;
       }
    }
}

Here:

B is the int? we'll use to store the data
BSerialized is a shim property that handles the parsing etc
ShouldSerializeBSerialized ensures we only serialize valid data

answered Jun 20 '11 at 10:02

Marc Gravell

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+1 and deleted my answer which said to do something like this; only I didn't bother with code. – Andras Zoltan Jun 20 '11 at 10:19
This is how I finaly realized it. Thanks a lot – Hint Jun 22 '11 at 06:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

0

have a look at the below:

Serialize a nullable int

edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

Community

1
1

answered Jun 20 '11 at 10:00

Massimiliano Peluso

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1

There's a difference between a nullable int and an element with non-integer content. This will not work here (see the `N/A`) – Marc Gravell Jun 20 '11 at 10:02
you are right :-). I think the only way is to write some code to try to parse the int – Massimiliano Peluso Jun 20 '11 at 10:11

Deserialize XML in C# - Return null on wrong format

2 Answers2