XML: Writing to file is null?

Question

I've debugged it so far, the list has the values.. however its not writing them out to the file.

I'm not sure why it's null.

The GameObjects class holds all the fields.

GameObjectData is just for the list.

Then ChestPlate inherits from GameObjects. The reason to this is, I'm making a game and all the values in GameObjects are relevant to ChestPlate.

Code is below:

[Serializable]
public class GameObjects
{
    //Defines name within XML file:
    [XmlElement("Item_ID")]
    public int Item_ID { get; set; }
    [XmlElement("Item_Name")]
    public string Item_Name = "bob";
    [XmlElement("Item_type")]
    public string Item_type = "GameObject";
    [XmlElement("Item_Level")]
    public int Item_Level = 5;
    [XmlElement("Item_description")]
    public string Item_description = "best description evar";

    public GameObjects(int id, string name, string type, int level, string description)
    {
        this.Item_ID = id;
        this.Item_Name = name;
        this.Item_type = type;
        this.Item_Level = level;
        this.Item_description = description;
    }
}

[Serializable]
[XmlInclude(typeof(GameObjects))]
public class GameObjectData
{
    [XmlArrayItem(typeof(GameObjects))]
    public List<GameObjects> GameList { get; set;}
}

public class ChestPlate : GameObjects
{
    [XmlElement("Armour_Rating")]
    int Armour_Rating = 5;

    public ChestPlate(int Armour_id, string Armour_name, string Armour_type, int Armour_level, string Armour_description)
        : base(Armour_id, Armour_name, Armour_type, Armour_level, Armour_description)
    {
        this.Item_ID = Armour_id;
        this.Item_Name = Armour_name;
        this.Item_type = Armour_type;
        this.Item_Level = Armour_level;
        this.Item_description = Armour_description;       
    }

    public  void SerializeToXML(List<GameObjects> responsedata)
    {        
        GameObjectData f = new GameObjectData();
        f.GameList = new List<GameObjects>();
        f.GameList.Add(new GameObjects { Item_ID = 1234, Item_Name = "OMG", Item_type =  "CHESTPLATE", Item_Level = 5, Item_description = "omg" });

        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(GameObjectData));
        TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(@"C:\Test.xml");

        serializer.Serialize(textWriter, f);

        Console.WriteLine(f);           
    }

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        GameObjects a = new GameObjects();
        ChestPlate b = new ChestPlate();
        List<GameObjects> d = new List<GameObjects>();
        b.SerializeToXML(d);
        Console.ReadLine();
     }
 }

What is null when you are debugging? – jrummell Mar 08 '13 at 17:42 — jrummell, Mar 08 '13 at 17:42

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 08 '13 at 18:13

I have run your code and it seems to serialize your data correctly the test file is created with the default parameters set by the base class.

What worries me a bit is the implementation I am sure you have more work to do but you need to dispose of objects correctly, ensure the attribute and serialization of the inherited classes and it parents are correctly done otherwise you will not be able to de-serialize correctly etc. I would suggest you look online for best practices for xml serialization in .net there are countless examples online but please see a few listed below.

Something else might be good to check is if you really need to use XML is json good enough or even binary serialization.

There is several community wiki entries on stackoverflow and including questions about best practices have a hunt about.

Please below the output of the code you put together with the full source code below. Please note that i changed the location that you are saving the xml file to ".\test.xml" usually the bin folder and debug folder the app wont have any problems writing too like permissions etc.

Also note that on the xml below you have lost the fact that you serialized a ChestPlate object.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GameObjectData xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <GameList>
    <GameObjects>
      <Item_Name>OMG</Item_Name>
      <Item_type>CHESTPLATE</Item_type>
      <Item_Level>5</Item_Level>
      <Item_description>omg</Item_description>
      <Item_ID>1234</Item_ID>
    </GameObjects>
  </GameList>
</GameObjectData>

Code base used to generate the XML

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApplication12
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            GameObjects a = new GameObjects();
            ChestPlate b = new ChestPlate();
            List<GameObjects> d = new List<GameObjects>();
            b.SerializeToXML(d);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

    }

    [Serializable]
    public class GameObjects
    {
        //Defines name within XML file:
        [XmlElement("Item_ID")]
        public int Item_ID { get; set; }
        [XmlElement("Item_Name")]
        public string Item_Name = "bob";
        [XmlElement("Item_type")]
        public string Item_type = "GameObject";
        [XmlElement("Item_Level")]
        public int Item_Level = 5;
        [XmlElement("Item_description")]
        public string Item_description = "best description evar";

        public GameObjects(int id, string name, string type, int level, string description)
        {
            this.Item_ID = id;
            this.Item_Name = name;
            this.Item_type = type;
            this.Item_Level = level;
            this.Item_description = description;
        }

        public GameObjects()
        {

        }

    }

    [Serializable]
    [XmlInclude(typeof(GameObjects))]
    public class GameObjectData
    {
        [XmlArrayItem(typeof(GameObjects))]
        public List<GameObjects> GameList { get; set; }


    }

    public class ChestPlate : GameObjects
    {
        [XmlElement("Armour_Rating")]
        int Armour_Rating = 5;

        public ChestPlate(int Armour_id, string Armour_name, string Armour_type, int Armour_level, string Armour_description)
            : base(Armour_id, Armour_name, Armour_type, Armour_level, Armour_description)
        {
            this.Item_ID = Armour_id;
            this.Item_Name = Armour_name;
            this.Item_type = Armour_type;
            this.Item_Level = Armour_level;
            this.Item_description = Armour_description;
        }

        public ChestPlate()
        {


        }


        public void SerializeToXML(List<GameObjects> responsedata)
        {
            GameObjectData f = new GameObjectData();
            f.GameList = new List<GameObjects>();
            f.GameList.Add(new GameObjects { Item_ID = 1234, Item_Name = "OMG", Item_type = "CHESTPLATE", Item_Level = 5, Item_description = "omg" });


            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(GameObjectData));
            TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(@".\Test.xml");

            serializer.Serialize(textWriter, f);

            Console.WriteLine(f);
        }
    }
}

XML: Writing to file is null?

1 Answers1