C# Deserialize of XML into entity

Question

I'm trying to deseaqralize this XML document into a list of Car objects, but it is coming up null.

Here's a sample XML document based on this post: How to Deserialize XML document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Cars>
  <car id="1">
    <StockNumber>1020</StockNumber>
    <Make>Nissan</Make>
    <Model>Sentra</Model>
  </car>
  <car id="2">
    <StockNumber>1010</StockNumber>
    <Make>Toyota</Make>
    <Model>Corolla</Model>
  </car>
  <car id="3">
    <StockNumber>1111</StockNumber>
    <Make>Honda</Make>
    <Model>Accord</Model>
  </car>
</Cars>

Required Classes:

[Serializable()]
public class Car
{
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttribute("id")]
    public int id { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("StockNumber")]
    public string StockNumber { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("Make")]
    public string Make { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("Model")]
    public string Model { get; set; }
}

[Serializable()]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRoot("Cars")]
public class Cars
{
    [XmlArray("Cars")]
    [XmlArrayItem("Car", typeof(Car))]
    public List<Car> Car { get; set; }        
}

Deserialize function:

public void ParseReturnXmlForVirtualEvent2()
{
    Cars cars = null;
    string path = @"E:\Projects\Newcars.xml";

    XmlDocument pdoc = new XmlDocument();
    pdoc.Load(path);
    XDocument Doc = new XDocument();
    Doc = XDocument.Parse(pdoc.OuterXml);            

    System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer serializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(Cars));

    System.Xml.XmlReader reader = Doc.CreateReader();
    cars = (Cars)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
    reader.Close();

    //return cars;
}

Let me know if you need me to provide further details.

possible duplicate of Deserialize XML Array Where Root is Array and Elements Dont Follow Conventions — Evan Mulawski
– Evan Mulawski, Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 13:18
Why are you loading as an XmlDocument and then using that to parse an XDocument and then using that to create an XmlReader? Just create an XmlReader using XmlReader.Create(path). You are parsing into two unrelated XML DOM's and throwing away. — Charles Mager
– Charles Mager, Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 13:25
I agree with you Charles, but its mandotry for me to use Xmldocument and XDocument for other code purpose. but my query is to get list of Cars — Vikrant
– Vikrant, Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 14:01

Erik Schierboom · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-27 13:22:59Z

2

You can fix this by replacing the Car property with:

[XmlElement("car", typeof(Car))]
public List<Car> Car { get; set; }

Your code had three problems:

You specified "Car" as the element's name but it actually is "car".
The Car property should not be decorated with [XmlArray("Cars")], as the "Cars" XML element is already defined on the Cars class itself.
The Car property should be defined using XmlElement and not XmlArrayItem.

answered Jul 27, 2015 at 13:22

Erik Schierboom

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1 Comment

Vikrant Over a year ago

Thanks Erik for the quick and perfect answer.

user5160742 · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-27 13:23:37Z

1

You need to capitalize car in your xml file. The element should look like this:

<Car id="1">
  <StockNumber>1020</StockNumber>
  <Make>Nissan</Make>
  <Model>Sentra</Model>
</Car>

answered Jul 27, 2015 at 13:23

user5160742

1 Comment

Vikrant Over a year ago

I did it, but didn't suceed

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