xml serialisation best practices

Question

I have been using the traditional way of serializing content with the following code

private void SaveToXml(IdentifiableEntity IE)
{
    try
    {
        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(IE.GetType());
        TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(IE.FilePath);
        serializer.Serialize(textWriter, IE);
        textWriter.Close();
    }
    catch (Exception e )
    {
        Console.WriteLine("erreur : "+ e);
    }
}

private T LoadFromXml<T>(string path)
{           
    XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
    TextReader textReader = new StreamReader(path);

    T entity = (T)deserializer.Deserialize(textReader);
    textReader.Close();

    return entity;            
}

Though this approach does the trick, i find it a bit annoying that all my properties have to be public, that i need to tag the properties sometimes [XmlAttribute|XmlElement| XmlIgnore] and that it doesn't deal with dictionaries.

My question is : Is there a better way of serializing objects in c#, a way that with less hassle, more modern and easy to use?

check this article the section on soap - http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11079/NET-XML-and-SOAP-Serialization-Samples-Tips — terrybozzio, Jul 27 '13 at 16:07
possible duplicate of [C# best practice when serializing objects to file](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4475525/c-sharp-best-practice-when-serializing-objects-to-file) — nawfal, Jul 09 '14 at 11:55

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 27 '13 at 16:05

First of all, I would suggest to use "using" blocks in your code.(Sample code)

If my understanding is OK, you are looking for a fast way to build your model classes that you will use during your deserialize/serialize operations.

Every Xml file is different and I don't know any generic way to serialize / deserialize them. At one moment you have to know if there will be an attribute, or elements or if any element can be null etc.

Assuming that you already have a sample XML file with a few lines which gives you general view of how it will look like

I would suggest to use xsd (miracle tool)

xsd yourXMLFileName.xml
xsd yourXMLFileName.xsd \classes

This tool will generate you every time model classes for the XML file you want to work it.

Than you serialize and deserialize easily

To deserialize (assuming that you'll get a class named XXXX representing root node in your xml)

XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XXXX));
XXXX yourVariable;
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(@"C:\yyyyyy\yyyyyy\YourXmlFile.xml"))
{
   yourVariable= (XXXX) ser.Deserialize(reader);
}

To serialize

var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XXXX));

using(var writer = new StreamWriter(@"C:\yyyyyy\yyyyyy\YourXmlFile.xml"))
{
    serializer.Serialize(writer, yourVariable);
}

xml serialisation best practices

1 Answers1