XML Deserialization and Loose Array Items

Question

So I'm working with some XML files that I believe are most likely badly formed, and I'm trying to figure out how and if I can use the XmlSerializer to deserialize this XML into a logical business object. Let's say I have the following XML file:

<Root>
   <ArrayType1 Name="Bob"/>
   <ArrayType1 Name="Jim"/>
   <ArrayType2 Name="Frank">
      <SubItem Value="4"/>
   </ArrayType2>
   <ArrayType2 Name="Jimbo">
      <SubItem Value="2"/>
   </ArrayType2>
</Root>

Now I'd like to create a class that has these three types, Root, ArrayType1 and ArrayType2, but I'd like to get two lists in Root, one containing a collection of ArrayType1 items, and one containing a collection of ArrayType2 items, but it seems that these items need to have some sort of root, for example, I know how to deserialize the following just fine:

<Root>
   <ArrayType1Collection>
      <ArrayType1 Name="Bob"/>
      <ArrayType1 Name="Jim"/>
   </ArrayType1Collection>
   <ArrayType2Collection>
      <ArrayType2 Name="Frank">
         <SubItem Value="4"/>
      </ArrayType2>
      <ArrayType2 Name="Jimbo">
         <SubItem Value="2"/>
      </ArrayType2>
   </ArrayType2Collection>
</Root>

But how would I deserialize this without the parent ArrayType#Collection elements surrounding the ArrayType# elements?

Will the XML Serializer even allow this at all?

Marc Gravell · Accepted Answer · 2009-02-10 22:27:31Z

11

Isn't that just:

[Serializable]
public class Root {
    [XmlElement("ArrayType1")]
    public List<ArrayType1> ArrayType1 {get;set;}

    [XmlElement("ArrayType2")]
    public List<ArrayType2> ArrayType2 {get;set;}
}

?

Alternatively, just put the xml into a file ("foo.xml") and use:

xsd foo.xml
xsd foo.xsd /classes

and look at the generated foo.cs

edited Feb 10, 2009 at 22:27

answered Feb 10, 2009 at 22:22

Marc Gravell

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3 Comments

David Morton Over a year ago

Overcomplicating again... Thanks. :)

Dan Forbes Over a year ago

Are the XmlElements here supposed to read, e.g., ArrayType1 or ArrayType1Collection?

Dan Forbes Over a year ago

When I look the OP's second XML snippet, I see an XmlElement with the name ArrayType1Collection that is essentially a set of XmlElements of type ArrayType1. When I look at your code snippet, I see an XmlElement with the name ArrayType1 that is essentially a set of objects of type ArrayType1. I would expect the name of the XmlElement to be ArrayType1Collection (since that is the name of the element that contains children of type ArrayType1).

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