c# serialize object without root element

Question

I am working with a 3rd party who has an xml structure for multiple different requests.

Each request has a common header structure and then some specific footer data.

Unfortunately, the header and footer sections are not wrapped within their own element tags and this is something that I can't change.

Some sample contrived requests are shown below:

Sample Request 1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF - 8" standalone="yes"?>
<Request>
    <RequestType>1</RequestType>
    <User>User01</User>
    <id>1234</id>
    <Name>John</Name>
    <Age>20</Age>
</Request>

Sample Request 2

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF - 8" standalone="yes"?>
<Request>
    <RequestType>2</RequestType>
    <User>User02</User>
    <id>1235</id>
    <School>The School</School>
    <Teacher>Mrs Smith</Teacher>
</Request>

Sample Request 3

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF - 8" standalone="yes"?>
<Request>
    <RequestType>3</RequestType>
    <User>User01</User>
    <id>223</id>
    <Work>The Office</Word>
    <Boss>Mr White</Boss>
    <Phone>1234567</Phone>
    <Payday>Friday</Payday>
</Request>

You can see that each request has a RequestType, User and id.

My question relates to writing C# code that will encapsulate this Xml for serialization.

To me, it seems wrong to have each of my C# classes having the repeated header (RequestType, User and id) data.

I have tried using generics (see sample code below) but that leads to my question.

Question: How can I serialize my generic object Footer so that it is not wrapped within "root" Footer element?

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRoot("Request")]
public class GenericRequest<typeT>
{
    public GenericRequest()
    {
    }

    public int RequestType { get; set; }

    public string User { get; set; }

    public int id { get; set; }

    public typeT Footer { get; set; }
}

This is not a valid xml. If you know the delimiter you can do a split and parse one by one. — Filip Cordas
– Filip Cordas, Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 10:46
I have edited the question to make the samples clearer - apologies for any confusion caused. — Mark
– Mark, Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 10:56

Techbrainhub Services · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-11 11:11:17Z

1

You can create a class with interface IFooter, which can have different implementor as per requirement (e.g.

interface IFooter : ISerializable 
{
 //Define common member.
}

public class Footer1: IFooter
{
 // define members (e.g. work) 
}

public class Footer2: IFooter
{
 // define members 
}

public class Footer3: IFooter
{
 // define members 
}

Now serialize main class

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRoot("Request")]
public class GenericRequest
{
  public GenericRequest()
  {
  }


  public int RequestType { get; set; }

  public string User { get; set; }

  public int id { get; set; }

  public IFooter Footer { get; set; }
}

Visit How can I serialize an object that has an interface as a property? for reference.

answered Sep 11, 2017 at 11:11

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