C# XML deserialization XML inside XML with attributes

Question

Can you deserilize XML ('items') inside another tag ('data') more simple without using another deserilization inside 'Items' get property. Maybe some kind of a attribute on "public Item[] Items".

XML:

<body>
  <request></request>
  <data><![CDATA[
    <items>
      <item>
        <property1>Name1</property1>
        <property2>111</property2>
      </item>
      <item>
        <property1>Name2</property1>
        <property2>222</property2>
      </item>
      <item>
        <property1>Name3</property1>
        <property2>333</property2>
      </item>
    </items>]]>
  </data>
</body>

TestClass:

    [TestClass]
    public class UnitTest1
    {
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestMethod1()
        {
            const string xml = "<body>" +
                                    "<request></request>" +
                                    "<data><![CDATA[" +
                                        "<items>" +
                                            "<item>" +
                                                "<property1>Name1</property1>" +
                                                "<property2>111</property2>" +
                                            "</item>" +
                                            "<item>" +
                                                "<property1>Name2</property1>" +
                                                "<property2>222</property2>" +
                                            "</item>" +
                                            "<item>" +
                                                "<property1>Name3</property1>" +
                                                "<property2>333</property2>" +
                                            "</item>" +
                                        "</items>" +
                                    "]]></data>" +
                               "</body>";

            var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
            xmlDoc.LoadXml(xml);

            var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (Body));
            var response = serializer.Deserialize(new XmlNodeReader(xmlDoc)) as Body;

            Assert.IsNotNull(response);
            Assert.AreEqual(3, response.Items.Length);
        }
    }

    [Serializable, XmlRoot("body")]
    public class Body
    {
        [XmlElement("request")] 
        public string Request;

        [XmlElement("data")] 
        public string Data;

        public Item[] Items
        {
            get
            {
                var document = new XmlDocument();
                document.LoadXml(Data);

                var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ItemList));
                var response = serializer.Deserialize(new XmlNodeReader(document)) as ItemList;

                return response.Items;
            }
        }
    }

    [Serializable, XmlRoot("items")]
    public class ItemList
    {
        [XmlElement("item")]
        public Item[] Items;
    }

    [Serializable]
    public class Item
    {
        [XmlElement("property1")]
        public string Property1;

        [XmlElement("property2")]
        public string Property2;
    }

Any reason you're using `CData` in this instance? Why not let `Items` serialize/deserialize themselves normally without the `Data` property? — Chris Sinclair, Aug 01 '13 at 12:52
The trouble is that the CData and the fact that Data is a string means that technically what is inside Data is a single string, not XML so you are not going to be able to deserialise it without two steps. — Chris, Aug 01 '13 at 12:56
Hrrm, well, I'm not aware of an XmlAttribute that could be applied (I've been wrong about that before though). If I had the same requirement, I'd do it pretty much the same way. Although I'd consider a bit of caching or writing the `Items` array once in the `Data` setter to avoid deserializing every time the `Items` property is accessed. — Chris Sinclair, Aug 01 '13 at 12:58
@Chris: [this question ain't big enough for the two of us...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHcH7mDMlmM) — Chris Sinclair, Aug 01 '13 at 12:59
@user1525437: @Chris is right. That `CDATA` node is going to prevent you from deserializing the contents as XML. You'll have to get the text of the `CDATA` node and instantiate another `XmlDocument` and call the `LoadXml` method with the string data from the `CDATA` section. — fourpastmidnight, Aug 01 '13 at 13:24
Is it possible to replace the string to get a cleaner XML, like xml = xml.Replace("<![CDATA[", "" ).Replace( "]]>", "" ); — ibram, Aug 01 '13 at 14:19
@ibram, Yes replacing part of the XML is possible, because I just need to get items from the list and not XML itself which comes as a part of SOAP response — sulgpallur, Aug 01 '13 at 15:06

Morbia · Answer 1 · 2013-10-10T10:22:09.560

0

Before deserializing XML, load XML into XmlDocument and change "data" XmlNode InnerXml as below:

if (xmlNode.Contains("<![CDATA[") || xmlNode.InnerXml.Contains("&lt;"))
{
     xmlNode.InnerXml = xmlNode.Value;
}

This will work if you know what you will be receiving inside CDATA.

edited Oct 10 '13 at 10:22

answered Oct 07 '13 at 14:37

Morbia

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C# XML deserialization XML inside XML with attributes

1 Answers1