C # deserialize xml file to create <T> list

Question

I have the following class, and I'm trying to serialize and deserialize from and to an XML file:

public class cUrlData { public string ProgramName {get;set;} public string ExeName { get; set; } public string Category { get; set; } public string URL { get; set; } public cUrlData() { } public void Add(string ProgramName, string ExeName, string Category, string ProgramURL) { this.ProgramName = ProgramName; this.ExeName = ExeName; this.URL = ProgramURL; this.Category = Category; } } 

I used the following code to check this:

 public List<cUrlData> SoftwareData = new List<cUrlData>(); cUrlData urlData; cXml xml; public frmUpdater() { InitializeComponent(); xml = new cXml("data.xml", ref SoftwareData); xml.Load(); // NOT WORKING - SO I GENERATE MY OWN DATA BELOW // Set up some test data to work with urlData = new cUrlData(); urlData.Add("Program1", "Program1.exe", "myDownloads", "http://www.source.com/program1.exe"); SoftwareData.Add(urlData); urlData = new cUrlData(); urlData.Add("Program2", "Program2.exe", "myDownloads", "http://www.source.com/program2.exe"); SoftwareData.Add(urlData); urlData = new cUrlData(); urlData.Add("Program3", "Program3.exe", "myDownloads", "http://www.source.com/program3.exe"); SoftwareData.Add(urlData); } 

The problem I ran into is finding a reliable way to convert the list to and from an XML file. I am currently browsing a list of classes and manually creating a node xml file on node and doing the same thing, reading it from an XML file into classes, but this is error prone. I tried to get the following code to read the file, but to no avail, and would be grateful for some advice, as I'm sure this is a coding problem!

 public void Load() { XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<cUrlData>)); using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("data.xml")) { cUrlData myXmlClass = (cUrlData)serializer.Deserialize(reader); } } 

After downloading, I want to try and return it to the xml file. Again, similar to the code above.

thanks

Answer 1

There should be a general solution to get started with saving and loading.

 private void SaveData(List<cUrlData> SoftwareData) { try { using (TextWriter reader = new StreamWriter("data.xml")) { (new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<cUrlData>))).Serialize(reader, SoftwareData); } } catch (Exception e) { MessageBox.Show(e.Message); } } private List<cUrlData> LoadData() { List<cUrlData> mysXmlClass = null; try { using (TextReader reader = new StreamReader("data.xml")) { object myXmlClass = (object)(new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<cUrlData>))).Deserialize(reader); mysXmlClass = (List<cUrlData>)myXmlClass; } } catch (Exception e) { MessageBox.Show(e.Message); } return mysXmlClass; } 

It needs to be done. I used TextReaders and StreamReaders as I am familiar with them.

Answer 2

MrNYE has the right idea. Here is the complete class that we use for serialization and deserialization with encoding parameters.

Enjoy it!

 using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Text; using System.Xml.Serialization; using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary; using System.IO; using System.Xml; namespace xml.serialization { /// <summary> /// Class to serialize generic objects. /// </summary> public static class ObjectSerializer { /// <summary> /// Decode from xml string with default UTF8 encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="xml"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static T FromString<T>(string xml) { Encoding e = Encoding.UTF8; return FromString<T>(xml, e); } /// <summary> /// Decode from xml string with UTF16 unicode /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="xml"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static T FromStringUTF16<T>(string xml) { Encoding e = Encoding.Unicode; return FromString<T>(xml, e); } /// <summary> /// Decode from xml string with privided encoding type /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="xml"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static T FromString<T>(string xml, Encoding e) { Object ret = null; XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(e.GetBytes(xml))) { XmlTextWriter xtWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stream, e); ret = s.Deserialize(stream); //xtWriter.Close(); } return (T)ret; } /// <summary> /// Serialize to xml with default UTF8 encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="obj"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static string ToString<T>(T obj) { Encoding e = Encoding.UTF8; return ToString(obj, e); } /// <summary> /// Serialize to xml with UTF16 encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="obj"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static string ToStringUTF16<T>(T obj) { Encoding e = Encoding.Unicode; return ToString(obj, e); } /// <summary> /// Serialize to xml with specified encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="obj"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static string ToString<T>(T obj, Encoding e) { string ret = String.Empty; XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream()) { XmlTextWriter xtWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stream, e); s.Serialize(xtWriter, obj); xtWriter.Close(); ret = e.GetString(stream.ToArray()); } return ret; } /// <summary> /// Serialize to xml to to a file with default UTF8 encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="obj"></param> /// <param name="filePath"></param> public static void ToXmlFile<T>(T obj, string filePath) { Encoding e = Encoding.UTF8; ToXmlFile<T>(obj, filePath, e); } /// <summary> /// Serialize to xml to to a file with specific encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="obj"></param> /// <param name="filePath"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> public static void ToXmlFile<T>(T obj, string filePath, Encoding e) { XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); using (TextWriter w = new StreamWriter(filePath, false, e)) { s.Serialize(w, obj); w.Flush(); w.Close(); } } /// <summary> /// Deserialize from a file of xml useing default UTF8 encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="filePath"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static T FromXmlFile<T>(string filePath) { Encoding e = Encoding.UTF8; return FromXmlFile<T>(filePath, e); } /// <summary> /// Deserialize from a file of xml useing specific encoding /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam> /// <param name="filePath"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static T FromXmlFile<T>(string filePath, Encoding e) { XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); Object ret = null; using (TextReader r = new StreamReader(filePath, e)) { ret = s.Deserialize(r); r.Close(); } return (T)ret; } } } 

Answer 3

Here are some functions that I use, hope they help:

 public static T FromXML<T>(string xml) { using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xml)) { XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); return (T)serializer.Deserialize(stringReader); } } public string ToXML<T>(T obj) { using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter(new StringBuilder())) { XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); xmlSerializer.Serialize(stringWriter, obj); return stringWriter.ToString(); } }