C# Serializaton Question

Question

In the first scenario, everything is pretty easy, I have the following XML, that I can deserialize to a strong type.

<providers>
   <dprovider>
      <dimensions>
         <width></width>
     </dimensions>
   </dbrovider>

In the 2nd scenario, and this is where I need help... I have something a little more dynamic

<providers>
   <dprovider>
      <dimensions>
         <width></width>
     </dimensions>
   </dbrovider>
     <dprovider>
      <dimensions>
         <height></height>
     </dimensions>
   </dbrovider>

As you can see the dimensions sub structure is differant in both items, so I need to find a way to create the strongly typed class, so that it can handle any change to the dimensions element, it could for example contain a whole nested sub structure, differant for each dbprovider.

Any ideas on how this is done?>

Thanks

Answer 1

The first thing that jumps to mind is custom deserialization. At that point, your dprovider class can have a List<object> called Dimensions, which has the host of subjobjects you require. The only pain is pulling them back out, because you'll have to do a bunch of "is" logic.

If you're looking to have a "whole nested sub structure", that sub structure should be defined as its own class/struct, then added to the Dimensions list.

Answer 2

I think you might be missing the point of C# to XML Serialization/Deserialization.

You should either define a schema (or use the one you already have) and create a C# class that supports it. See MSDN article on xsd.exe

The other route is to create your C# class (and wrap it in a collection from your markup) and add XML attributes. This will essentially define your XML schema. See here for starting point on the XmlRootAttribute

Answer 3

Try this:

[Serializable]
class Dimension { ... }

[Serializable]
class Height : Dimension { ... }

[Serializable]
class Width : Dimension { ... }

Then, in the class that your (note the plural) element deserializes into, have this property:

[XmlElement( Type = typeof( Height ), ElementName = "height" )]
[XmlElement( Type = typeof( Width ), ElementName = "width" )]
public Dimension[] DimensionArray {
    get { ... }
    set { ... }
}

Here's the starting point of documentation on XML serialization (XmlElement class), so you can figure out the rest of the details.

You should be able to serialize/deserialize your providers object by simply decorating the right properties and classes with the right attributes from the System.Xml.Serialization namespace.