C# Parsing Complex XML LINQ

C# Parsing Complex XML LINQ - c#

I have been trying to parse the following XML file with some success.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Settings>
<Tasks>
<Task ID="1" Name="task_1" Active="1" NextEID="25" AR="0" CacheNames="random">
<Schedules>
<Schedule OnlyUntilFirstSuccess="0" FailIfNoSuccessInSched="0" RunEvenIfNotif="0">
<Days>
<DayOfWeek>Monday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Tuesday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Wednesday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Thursday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Friday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Saturday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Sunday</DayOfWeek>
</Days>
<Frequency>
<Interval StartTime="09:45" EndTime="09:45" EveryMinutes="0"></Interval>
</Frequency>
</Schedule>
</Schedules>
</Task>
<Task ID="2" Name="task_2" Active="1" NextEID="25" AR="0" CacheNames="random">
<Schedules>
<Schedule OnlyUntilFirstSuccess="0" FailIfNoSuccessInSched="0" RunEvenIfNotif="0">
<Days>
<DayOfWeek>Monday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Tuesday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Wednesday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Thursday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Friday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Saturday</DayOfWeek>
<DayOfWeek>Sunday</DayOfWeek>
</Days>
<Frequency>
<Interval StartTime="12:45" EndTime="09:45" EveryMinutes="0"></Interval>
</Frequency>
</Schedule>
</Schedules>
</Task>
</Tasks>
</Settings>
Using several tutorials online I have pieced together the following C# code :
public static void ParseXml()
{
string strFile = "File.xml";
XDocument xdoc = XDocument.Load(strFile);
var tasks = from s in xdoc.Descendants("Tasks")
select new
{
taskID = s.Element("Task").Attribute("ID").Value,
taskName = s.Element("Task").Attribute("Name").Value,
taskActive = s.Element("Task").Attribute("Active").Value,
taskSchedule = s.Element("Task").Element("Schedules").Element("Schedule").Element("Days")
};
foreach (var t in tasks)
{
Console.WriteLine("Task Id :: {0}", t.taskID);
Console.WriteLine("Task Name :: {0}", t.taskName);
Console.WriteLine("Task Status :: {0}", t.taskActive);
Console.WriteLine("Task Schedule :: {0}", t.taskSchedule);
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
My goals is to parse out each task, task ID, Name, Days, Frequency. I'd like to ultimately be able to use these values to chart the TaskID and StartTime on a scatter plot graph. I tried creating the following classes thinking it might help me deal with it the file but I don't know how to tie it all together.
public class Task
{
public static int taskId { get; set; }
public static string taskName { get; set; }
}
public class Schedule
{
public enum DayOfWeek
{
Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednsday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Saturday,
Sunday
}
}
public class Frequency
{
public static DateTime startTime { get; set; }
public static DateTime endTime { get; set; }
public static int everyMins { get; set; }
}
Any help / direction would be appreciated. Please just don't post the solution if you have one. Please explain it so that I can learn from it and contribute to this community in the future.
Thanks!
Gabe

Firstly, you'll need to structure your classes as per the source XML. So a Settings class within which you have Tasks and so on. Something like this. I haven't put in all the XML attributes of course. But you should get the gist. You need the [XMLAttribute] attribute decorating your properties representing XML attributes. Also all the property names are case sensitive. So be sure they match (ID instead of Id). There are ways around this using attributes though:
public class Settings
{
public List<Task> Tasks { get; set; }
}
public class Task
{
[XmlAttribute]
public int ID { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Schedule> Schedules { get; set; }
}
public class Schedule
{
[XmlAttribute]
public string OnlyUntilFirstSuccess { get; set; }
public List<DayOfWeek> Days { get; set; }
public Frequency Frequency { get; set; }
}
public class Frequency
{
public Interval Interval { get; set; }
}
public class Interval
{
[XmlAttribute]
public string StartTime { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string EndTime { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public int EveryMins { get; set; }
}
Then you can use an XmlSerializer to serialize the XML to your class. So your ParseXml() method should look something like this:
public static void ParseXml()
{
string fileName = "File.xml";
XDocument xdoc = XDocument.Load(fileName);
using (TextReader reader = new StringReader(xdoc.ToString()))
{
try
{
var settings = (Settings)new XmlSerializer(typeof(Settings)).Deserialize(reader);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Handle exceptions as you see fit
}
}
}
Other things to note: don't name variable strxxxxx to denote they are strings and standard convention is that public variable names start with capital letters.
Also, you'll need the following:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

Related

How to XML deserialize Dictionary, that hidden in other element?

ACTUAL code and xml file
Code of program
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "file.xml";
//string path2 = #"F:\fd.xml";
FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open);
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(fs);
SaveGame sav = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SaveGame)).Deserialize(reader) as SaveGame;
Console.WriteLine(sav.player.friendshipData[0].key);
Console.WriteLine(sav.player.friendshipData[0].value.Points);
fs.Close();
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class SaveGame
{
public Player player { get; set; }
}
public class Player
{
public item[] friendshipData { get; set; }
}
public class item
{
public string key { get; set; }
public Friendship value { get; set; }
}
public class Friendship
{
public int Points {get;set;}
}
}
XML File to work with:
<SaveGame>
<player>
<friendshipData>
<item>
<key>
<string>Name1</string>
</key>
<value>
<Friendship>
<Points>324</Points>
</Friendship>
</value>
</item>
<item>
<key>
<string>Name2</string>
</key>
<value>
<Friendship>
<Points>98</Points>
</Friendship>
</value>
</item>
</friendshipData>
</player>
</SaveGame>
I tried other posts, and that's not working, cause all readen values are null.
Please, how to deserialize this document? And with explanation, please.
If i set {get;set;} to variables, it won't read next item, if i set {get;} it read every item, but every item have null value.
Just in case, i can't edit XML File for some reasons. XML File is alright.

Your data-structure doesn´t really fit your xml well. If you have a simple data-type such as int or string you can serialize and de-serialize directly into an xml-node. If you have some more complex data-structure like your Firnedship-node you need a nested node.
Having said this your data-structure should be similar to thie following:
public class SaveGame
{
public Player player { get; set; }
}
public class Player
{
public item[] friendshipData { get; set; }
}
public class item
{
public Key key { get; set; }
public Friendship value { get; set; }
}
// add this class with a single string-field
public class Key
{
public string #string { get; set; }
}
public class Friendship
{
public int Points { get; set; }
}
As an aside consider following naming-conventions, which is giving classes and members of those classes PascaleCase-names, e.g. FriendshipData, Item, and Key. This however assumes you have some mapping from those names to your names within the xml. This can be done by using XmlElementAttribute:
public class Player
{
[XmlElement("friendshipData ")] // see here how to change the name within the xml
public item[] FriendshipData { get; set; }
}

Since you only need two values from Xml I would not use serialization. You can get a dictionary with one linq instruction.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;
namespace ConsoleApplication51
{
class Program
{
const string FILENAME = #"c:\temp\test.xml";
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(FILENAME);
Dictionary<string, int> players = doc.Descendants("item")
.GroupBy(x => (string)x.Descendants("string").FirstOrDefault(), y => (int)y.Descendants("Points").FirstOrDefault())
.ToDictionary(x => x.Key, y => y.FirstOrDefault());
}
}
}

Parse nested XML from URL

I'm currently working on a .NET 4.6 console application. I need to parse a nested XML from an URL and transform the XML into an object list.
The URL for the sample XML is the following:
https://www.w3schools.com/xml/cd_catalog.xml
The XML looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
<PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1985</YEAR>
</CD>
<CD>
<TITLE>Hide your heart</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tyler</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>UK</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>CBS Records</COMPANY>
<PRICE>9.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1988</YEAR>
</CD>
</CATALOG>
My corresponding C# classes look like this:
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "CATALOG")]
public class Catalog
{
[XmlElement("CD")]
List<Cd> Cds { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "CD")]
public class Cd
{
[XmlElement("TITLE")]
public string Title { get; set; }
[XmlElement("ARTIST")]
public string Artist { get; set; }
[XmlElement("COUNTRY")]
public string Country { get; set; }
[XmlElement("COMPANY")]
public string Company { get; set; }
[XmlElement("PRICE")]
public double Price { get; set; }
[XmlElement("YEAR")]
public int Year { get; set; }
}
My program class looks like this:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Init();
}
public static void Init() {
var url = "https://www.w3schools.com/xml/cd_catalog.xml";
XmlDocument myXmlDocument = new XmlDocument();
myXmlDocument.Load(url);
var catalog = myXmlDocument.InnerXml.ToString();
var result = Deserialize<Catalog>(catalog);
// result is null :(
Console.ReadKey();
}
public static T Deserialize<T>(string xmlText)
{
try
{
var stringReader = new StringReader(xmlText);
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
return (T)serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
}
}
So far so good, my variable catalog consists out of an XML string, but somehow the XML doesn't get parsed correctly. I always get null as a return result. Perhaps it's because of my class definitions.
What do you think, do you have an idea on how to solve this issue? To retrieve an List<Cd> instead of null.

The error is very subtle. You have done everything right, but you missed to add the public access qualifier in your Catalog class, on the list of Cd like so:
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "CATALOG")]
public class Catalog
{
[XmlElement("CD")]
public List<Cd> Cds { get; set; }
}
Since the access qualifiers default to private, the deserializer is having a hard time finding the correct property to deserialize the XML into.

List<Cd> Cds { get; set; }
Change this line to
Public List<Cd> Cds { get; set; }

Delete nodes from returned from response.content using deserialization in RestSharp

I know the Response.Content from my GET RestRequest is xml UTF-8. However I want to delete unwanted child nodes from the response.content. I can't assign the response to an xml document (because it returns a string apparently ?) which I could use system.xml to delete unwanted child nodes.
I have a situation (below) where if I have three space_reservation nodes [1401, 1402, and 1401 & 1402], I want to delete the space_reservation nodes for MH-1402 and (MH1401 & MH-1402), and keep the space_reservation node for MH-1401. I want to do this before I use the a REST API to schedule the rooms because these room will present a duplicate schedule situation.
Here is the example of the response.content from the request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<r25:reservations xmls:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchemainstance">
<r25:reservation xl:href="reservation.xml?rsrv_id=731397">
<r25:reservation_id>7313</r25:reservation_id>
<r25:reservation_state>1</r25:reservation_state>
<r25:event_start_dt>2016-04-12T09:00:00-07:00</r25:event_start_dt>
<r25:event_end_dt>2016-04-12T12:00:00-07:00</r25:event_end_dt>
<r25:event_id xl:href="event.xml?event_id=197559">197559</r25:event_id>
<r25:event_locator>2016-ABAHZP</r25:event_locator>
<r25:event_name>Spring Grand Rounds</r25:event_name>
<r25:event_type_name>Department Meetings & Events</r25:event_type_name>
<r25:organization_name>Sciences</r25:organization_name>
<r25:profile_name>April 12th Capture</r25:profile_name>
<r25:space_reservation xl:href="space.xml?space_id=335">
<r25:space_name>MH-1401</r25:space_name>
<r25:space_id>335</r25:space_id>
<r25:space_instruction_id>94367</r25:space_instruction_id>
</r25:space_reservation>
<r25:space_reservation xl:href="space.xml?space_id=336">
<r25:space_name>MH-1402</r25:space_name>
<r25:space_id>336</r25:space_id>
<r25:space_instruction_id>94368</r25:space_instruction_id>
</r25:space_reservation>
<r25:space_reservation xl:href="space.xml?space_id=337">
<r25:space_name>MH-1401 & 1402</r25:space_name>
<r25:space_id>337</r25:space_id>
<r25:space_instruction_id>94366</r25:space_instruction_id>
</r25:space_reservation>
<r25:resource_reservation xl:href="resource.xml?resource_id=55">
<r25:resource_id>55</r25:resource_id>
<r25:resource_name>Live plus on-demand</r25:resource_name>
<r25:resource_count>1</r25:resource_count>
<r25:resource_instruction_id/>
<r25:resource_instructions/>
</r25:resource_reservation>
</r25:reservation>
</r25:reservations>
Here are my deserialization classes:
public class Mreservation : List<reservation> { }
public class reservation
{
public string event_name { get; set; }
public DateTime reservation_start_dt { get; set; }
public DateTime reservation_end_dt { get; set; }
public DateTime event_start_dt { get; set; }
public DateTime event_end_dt { get; set; }
public string event_locator { get; set; }
public int organization_id { get; set; }
public List<space_reservation> spaceNodes { get; set; }
public List<resource_reservation> resourceNodes { get; set; }
}
public class reservations
{
public string pubdate { get; set; }
public List<reservation> ReservationNodes { get; set; }
}
public class space_reservation
{
public string space_name { get; set; }
public int space_id { get; set; }
}
public class resource_reservation
{
public int resource_id { get; set; }
public string resource_name { get; set; }
}
Here is the code I have for eliminating nodes that have title 1401. I save to xml so I can confirm that the node has been deleted but still the same.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using RestSharp;
using System.Xml;
namespace EliminateDuplicates
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var R25Client = R25_Rest_Login.R25Login();
String testDate = new DateTime(2016, 4, 12).ToString("yyyyMMdd");
var CaptureRequest = new RestRequest("reservations.xml", Method.GET);
CaptureRequest.AddParameter("resource_query_id", "35304");
CaptureRequest.AddParameter("start_dt", testDate);
CaptureRequest.AddParameter("end_dt", testDate);
CaptureRequest.RequestFormat = DataFormat.Xml;
var CaptureResponse = R25Client.Execute<Mreservation>(CaptureRequest);
XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();
xdoc.LoadXml(CaptureResponse.Content);
xdoc.Save("beforeRemoval.xml");
foreach (var x in CaptureResponse.Data)
{
if ((x.spaceNodes[0].space_id == 335) && (x.spaceNodes[1].space_id == 336) && (x.spaceNodes[2].space_id == 337))
{
x.spaceNodes.RemoveAll(i => i.space_id == 335);
}
}
XmlDocument xdocA = new XmlDocument();
xdocA.LoadXml(CaptureResponse.Content);
xdocA.Save("afterRemoval.xml");
}
}
}
Im looking for the proper way to delete these nodes using RestSharp ?

The proper way of transforming structure of responses in RestSharp would be implementing a custom IDeserializer.
However, it seems you want to apply business logic (i.e. remove some reservations) instead of just deserializing. In that case, you should use the already-deserialized object as shown in the example below.
var reservations = client.Execute<Mreservation>(request).Data;
foreach(var reservation in reservations)
{
reservation.SpaceNodes.RemoveAll((space) => someCondition(space));
}
// ...go on using reservations

deserializing a nested list in xml

I am c# silverlight beginner i am under a situation that i have thios xml code:
string xmlstring = #"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?>
<par>
<name>amount</name>
<label>Amount</label>
<unit>Hundred</unit >
<comp>
<type>Combo</type>
<attributes>
<type>Integer</type>
<displayed>4</displayed>
<selected>0</selected>
<item>5</item>
</attributes>
</comp>
</par>";
** Now what is the problem ?**
In the last line when i try to debug "item" which is asssigned several value like 5 on line Debug.WriteLine(attrib.item);i just see only "5" on debugging it dont show other values. I guess i need to implement a list for it. But how to do it here that i don't know. Could some one please help me so that i will be able to have all the assigned values to item in this c# code because after this step i havce to create a GUI of it. Woudl be a big help.
Note: I cannot use ArrayList because silverligth dont support it any other lastertnative please ?

This is what you need:
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "parameter")]
public class Parameter
{
[XmlElement("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[XmlElement("label")]
public string Label { get; set; }
[XmlElement("unit")]
public string Unit { get; set; }
[XmlElement("component")]
public Component Component { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "component")]
public class Component {
[XmlElement("type")]
public string Type { get; set; }
[XmlElement("attributes")]
public Attributes Attributes { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "attributes")]
public class Attributes
{
[XmlElement("type")]
public string Type { get; set; }
[XmlElement("displayed")]
public string Displayed { get; set; }
[XmlElement("selected")]
public string Selected { get; set; }
[XmlArray("items")]
[XmlArrayItem("item", typeof(string))]
public List<string> Items { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string xmlstring = #"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?>
<parameter>
<name>max_amount</name>
<label>Max Amount</label>
<unit>Millions</unit>
<component>
<type>Combo</type>
<attributes>
<type>Integer</type>
<displayed>4</displayed>
<selected>0</selected>
<items>
<item>5</item>
<item>10</item>
<item>20</item>
<item>50</item>
</items>
</attributes>
</component >
</parameter>";
XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Parameter));
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlstring));
Parameter parameter = (Parameter)deserializer.Deserialize(reader);
Console.WriteLine("Type: {0}", parameter.Component.Attributes.Type);
Console.WriteLine("Displayed: {0}", parameter.Component.Attributes.Displayed);
Console.WriteLine("Selected: {0}", parameter.Component.Attributes.Selected);
Console.WriteLine("Items: ");
foreach (var item in parameter.Component.Attributes.Items)
{
Console.WriteLine("\t{0}", item);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Note small change in xmlstring, now every <item></item> is inside container:
<items>
<item>5</item>
<item>10</item>
<item>20</item>
<item>50</item>
</items>

Deserialization Error: The XML element 'name' from namespace '' is already present in the current scope

This is my first time using XML Serialization and this is driving me absolutely nuts after 2 days of trying to troubleshoot this.
I get this error when the deserialization kicks in:
The XML element 'name' from namespace '' is already present in the current scope. Use XML attributes to specify another XML name or namespace for the element.
The error happens on this line in my code:
Album album = (Album)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
I not sure why. There is no dup "name" node so I just don't get it. This is an XML doc received from an HttpWebResponse from a 3rd party REST API.
Here's the complete code:
My Album Class (the type I'm Deserializing to):
public class Album
{
#region Constructors
public Album()
{
}
#endregion
#region ElementConstants
public static class ElementConstants
{
public const string aID = "aid";
public const string Owner = "owner";
public const string AlbumName = "name";
public const string CoverPhotoID = "cover_pid";
public const string CreateDate = "created";
public const string LastModifiedDate = "modified";
public const string Description = "description";
public const string Location = "location";
public const string AlbumURL = "link";
public const string Size = "size";
public const string Visible = "visible";
}
#endregion ElementConstants
#region Public Properties
[XmlArray(ElementName = "photos_GetAlbums_response")]
[XmlArrayItem( "album" )]
public Album[] Albums { get; set; }
[XmlElement (ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumName, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumID { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.aID, DataType = "int")]
public Int32 CoverPhotoID { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Owner, DataType = "string")]
public string Owner { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumName, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumName { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.aID, DataType = "DateTime")]
public DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.LastModifiedDate, DataType = "DateTime")]
public DateTime LastModifiedDate { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Description, DataType = "string")]
public string Description { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Location, DataType = "string")]
public string Location { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumURL, DataType = "string")]
public string Link { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Size, DataType = "size")]
public string Size { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Visible, DataType = "string")]
public string Visible { get; set; }
#endregion
}
My Serializer Class:
public class Serializer
{
public static Album CreateAlbumFromXMLDoc(XmlDocument doc)
{
// Create an instance of a serializer
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Album));
var reader = new StringReader(doc.ToString());
// Deserialize the Xml Object and cast to type Album
Album album = (Album)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
return album;
}
}
The XML that I am trying to Deserialized (copied from the Xml Doc object being passed into the CreateAlbumFromXMLDoc method when debugging in VS):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<photos_GetAlbums_response xsi:schemaLocation="http://api.example.com/1.0/ http://api.example.com/1.0/xxx.xsd" list="true">
<album>
<aid>3231990241086938677</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087042549</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>LA</name>
<created>1233469624</created>
<modified>1233469942</modified>
<description>trip to LA</description>
<location>CA</location>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=7333&id=1337262814</link>
<size>48</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086936240</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087005994</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Wall Photos</name>
<created>1230437805</created>
<modified>1233460690</modified>
<description/>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=3296&id=1337262814</link>
<size>34</size>
<visible>everyone</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086937544</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087026027</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Mobile Uploads</name>
<created>1231984989</created>
<modified>1233460349</modified>
<description/>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=6300&id=1337262814</link>
<size>3</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086936188</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087005114</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Christmas 2008</name>
<created>1230361978</created>
<modified>1230362306</modified>
<description>My Album</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=5234&id=1337262814</link>
<size>50</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935881</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087001093</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Hock</name>
<created>1229889219</created>
<modified>1229889235</modified>
<description>Misc Pics</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4937&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>friends-of-friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935541</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241086996817</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Test Album 2 (for work)</name>
<created>1229460455</created>
<modified>1229460475</modified>
<description>this is a test album</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4547&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>everyone</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935537</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241086996795</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Test Album (for work)</name>
<created>1229459168</created>
<modified>1229459185</modified>
<description>Testing for work</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4493&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
</photos_GetAlbums_response>
A side note: Just for the hell of it, I paste that XML into XML Notepad 2007, it tells me:
Your XML document contains no xml-stylesheet processing instruction. To provide an XSLT transform, add the following to the top of your file and edit the href attribute accordingly:
I don't think that really means it's malformed or anything but just something to note.
So..
My ultimate goal is to get pass this damn error obviously and get an array of albums back using my code above once I can get past the error. I also want to make sure my code is correct in trying to retrieve that arrray back of albums using my Album[] property in my Album class or anything else I might be missing here. I think it's pretty close and should work but it's not.
Follow-up. I've been pulling my hair out since then.
Here's the latest. I did not use some things for now (from Marc) like the Enum, etc. I might change that later. I also pulled out the datetime stuff as it just looked wierd and I did not get errors on that anway without...at least yet. The main problem now is still my damn XML.
It's still appearing to have problems with the format I guess? Unless it's covering up another problem, no clue. This is driving me fing crazy.
I now get this error when the deserialization kicks in:
Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.
The error happens on this line in my code: GetAlbumsResponse album = (GetAlbumsResponse)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
How I get the response into an XmL doc:
public static XmlDocument GetResponseXmlDocument(HttpWebResponse response)
{
Stream dataStream = null; // stream from WebResponse
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
if (doc == null)
{
throw new NullReferenceException("The web reponse was null");
}
// Get the response stream so we can read the body of the response
dataStream = response.GetResponseStream();
// Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(dataStream);
// Load response into string variable so that we can then load into an XML doc
string responseString = reader.ReadToEnd();
// Create an XML document & load it with the response data
doc.LoadXml(responseString);
// Final XML document that represents the response
return doc;
}
My Album Class & Root Level Class (thanks to help from Marc..I get it now):
namespace xxx.Entities
{
[Serializable, XmlRoot("photos_GetAlbums_response")]
public class GetAlbumsResponse
{
[XmlElement("album")]
public List<Album> Albums { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("list")]
public bool IsList { get; set; }
}
public class Album
{
#region Constructors
public Album()
{
}
#endregion
#region ElementConstants
/// <summary>
/// Constants Class to eliminate use of Magic Strings (hard coded strings)
/// </summary>
public static class ElementConstants
{
public const string aID = "aid";
public const string Owner = "owner";
public const string AlbumName = "name";
public const string CoverPhotoID = "cover_pid";
public const string CreateDate = "created";
public const string LastModifiedDate = "modified";
public const string Description = "description";
public const string Location = "location";
public const string AlbumURL = "link";
public const string Size = "size";
public const string Visible = "visible";
}
#endregion ElementConstants
#region Public Properties
[XmlElement (ElementName = ElementConstants.aID, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumID { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.CoverPhotoID, DataType = "int")]
public Int32 CoverPhotoID { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Owner, DataType = "string")]
public string Owner { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumName, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumName { get; set; }
public string Created { get; set; }
public DateTime Modified { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Description, DataType = "string")]
public string Description { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Location, DataType = "string")]
public string Location { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumURL, DataType = "string")]
public string Link { get; set; }
public string Size { get; set; }
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.Visible, DataType = "string")]
public string Visible { get; set; }
#endregion
}
}
My Serializer Class:
namespace xxx.Utilities
{
public class Serializer
{
public static List<Album> CreateAlbumFromXMLDoc(XmlDocument doc)
{
// Create an instance of a serializer
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Album));
var reader = new StringReader(doc.ToString());
// Deserialize the Xml Object and cast to type Album
GetAlbumsResponse album = (GetAlbumsResponse)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
return album.Albums;
}
}
}
The true XML incoming, that I am trying to Deserialize (yes it does have xmlns):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<photos_GetAlbums_response xmlns="http://api.example.com/1.0/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://api.example.com/1.0/ http://api.example.com/1.0/xxx.xsd" list="true">
<album>
<aid>7321990241086938677</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087042549</cover_pid>
<owner>1124262814</owner>
<name>Album Test 1</name>
<created>1233469624</created>
<modified>1233469942</modified>
<description>Our trip</description>
<location>CA</location>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=7733&id=1124262814</link>
<size>48</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>231990241086936240</aid>
<cover_pid>7042330241087005994</cover_pid>
<owner>1124262814</owner>
<name>Album Test 2</name>
<created>1230437805</created>
<modified>1233460690</modified>
<description />
<location />
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=5296&id=1124262814</link>
<size>34</size>
<visible>everyone</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>70319423341086937544</aid>
<cover_pid>7032390241087026027</cover_pid>
<owner>1124262814</owner>
<name>Album Test 3</name>
<created>1231984989</created>
<modified>1233460349</modified>
<description />
<location />
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=6600&id=1124262814</link>
<size>3</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
</photos_GetAlbums_response>

Personally, I wouldn't use constants here - they make it hard to spot errors (and since you probably aren't re-using them, don't add much). For example:
[XmlElement (ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumName, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumID { get; set; }
...
[XmlElement(ElementName = ElementConstants.AlbumName, DataType = "string")]
public string AlbumName { get; set; }
Looks suspect to me...
An easier approach is to write the xml you want to a file (foo.xml, say) and use:
xsd foo.xml
xsd foo.xsd /classes
Then look at foo.cs.

Here we go... note the xml was invalid (& should be &; use of undeclared xsi namespace-alias). Note also that I added an enum for the visibility, added handling for converting the long to DateTime, and added the wrapper type:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
static class Program
{
const string xml = #"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""UTF-8""?>
<photos_GetAlbums_response
xmlns:xsi=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance""
xsi:schemaLocation=""http://api.example.com/1.0/ http://api.example.com/1.0/xxx.xsd""
list=""true"">
<album>
<aid>3231990241086938677</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087042549</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>LA</name>
<created>1233469624</created>
<modified>1233469942</modified>
<description>trip to LA</description>
<location>CA</location>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=7333&id=1337262814</link>
<size>48</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086936240</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087005994</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Wall Photos</name>
<created>1230437805</created>
<modified>1233460690</modified>
<description/>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=3296&id=1337262814</link>
<size>34</size>
<visible>everyone</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086937544</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087026027</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Mobile Uploads</name>
<created>1231984989</created>
<modified>1233460349</modified>
<description/>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=6300&id=1337262814</link>
<size>3</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086936188</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087005114</cover_pid>
<owner>1337262814</owner>
<name>Christmas 2008</name>
<created>1230361978</created>
<modified>1230362306</modified>
<description>My Album</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=5234&id=1337262814</link>
<size>50</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935881</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241087001093</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Hock</name>
<created>1229889219</created>
<modified>1229889235</modified>
<description>Misc Pics</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4937&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>friends-of-friends</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935541</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241086996817</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Test Album 2 (for work)</name>
<created>1229460455</created>
<modified>1229460475</modified>
<description>this is a test album</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4547&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>everyone</visible>
</album>
<album>
<aid>7031990241086935537</aid>
<cover_pid>7031990241086996795</cover_pid>
<owner>1637262814</owner>
<name>Test Album (for work)</name>
<created>1229459168</created>
<modified>1229459185</modified>
<description>Testing for work</description>
<location/>
<link>http://www.example.com/album.php?aid=4493&id=1637262814</link>
<size>1</size>
<visible>friends</visible>
</album>
</photos_GetAlbums_response>";
static void Main()
{
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(GetAlbumsResponse));
GetAlbumsResponse response;
using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(xml))
{
response = (GetAlbumsResponse)ser.Deserialize(reader);
}
}
}
[Serializable, XmlRoot("photos_GetAlbums_response")]
public class GetAlbumsResponse
{
[XmlElement("album")]
public List<Album> Albums {get;set;}
[XmlAttribute("list")]
public bool IsList { get; set; }
}
public enum AlbumVisibility
{
[XmlEnum("")]
None,
[XmlEnum("friends")]
Friends,
[XmlEnum("friends-of-friends")]
FriendsOfFriends,
[XmlEnum("everyone")]
Everyone
}
[Serializable]
public class Album
{
static readonly DateTime epoch = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1);
static long SerializeDateTime(DateTime value)
{
return (long)((value - epoch).TotalSeconds);
}
static DateTime DeserializeDateTime(long value)
{
return epoch.AddSeconds(value);
}
[XmlElement("aid")]
public long AlbumID { get; set; }
[XmlElement("cover_pid")]
public long CoverPhotoID { get; set; }
[XmlElement("owner")]
public long Owner { get; set; }
[XmlElement("name")]
public string AlbumName { get; set; }
[XmlIgnore]
public DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
[XmlElement("created"), Browsable(false)]
[EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
public long CreateDateInt64 {
get {return SerializeDateTime(CreateDate);}
set {CreateDate = DeserializeDateTime(value);}
}
[XmlIgnore]
public DateTime LastModifiedDate { get; set; }
[XmlElement("modified"), Browsable(false)]
[EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
public long LastModifiedDateInt64
{
get { return SerializeDateTime(LastModifiedDate); }
set { LastModifiedDate = DeserializeDateTime(value); }
}
[XmlElement("description")]
public string Description { get; set; }
[XmlElement("location")]
public string Location { get; set; }
[XmlElement("link")]
public string Link { get; set; }
[XmlElement("size")]
public int Size { get; set; }
[XmlElement("visible")]
public AlbumVisibility Visibility { get; set; }
}

(08 Feb) First, treating xml as a string (for reading) isn't going to cause errors.
The problem is the namespace (the xmlns without the xsi); this wasn't in the earlier xml, so I couldn't include it... basically, you need to tell the serializer about it:
[Serializable, XmlRoot("photos_GetAlbums_response",
Namespace="http://api.example.com/1.0/")]
public class GetAlbumsResponse { /* code as before */ }
[Serializable, XmlType(Namespace="http://api.example.com/1.0/")]
public class Album { /* code as before */ }
On this occasion, a constant for the namespace would make sense (since you are re-using it).
If the xml you are showing is accurate, then the links are still corrupt, though... but maybe this is just copy/paste (i.e. don't apply this change until you know it errors...): you need & (not &). Suggest some "Replace"... at the crudest level:
string fixedXml = xml.Replace("&", "&");
(although something more precise might be better - perhaps a regex)
Note that with the different data I also had to make some of the data strings (rather than long):
[XmlElement("aid")]
public string AlbumID { get; set; }
[XmlElement("cover_pid")]
public string CoverPhotoID { get; set; }
[XmlElement("owner")]
public string Owner { get; set; }
With these changes (and mostly my original code) it works.
Of course, by this point you should be thinking "I wish I'd used xsd".

Yes - album is definitely not the root node in your XML.
What I would recommend you do is create a GetAlbumsResponse class which contains a list of albums, and move your deserialize code to the wrapper class.
Basically, remove the root element from your Album class definition, and :
[XmlRoot (ElementName="GetAlbums_response")]
public class GetAlbumsResponse
{
#region Constructors
public GetAlbumsResponse()
{
}
#endregion
[XmlArray(ElementName="album")]
public List<Album> Albums{get;set;}
... deserialization code...
}

Well,
there is a link from Microsoft targeting your problem

The Xml that would work for your current code is something like this:
<Album><photos_GetAlbums_response>
<Album>
<photos_GetAlbums_response>
<Album>
<photos_GetAlbums_response> ....
A response, which has an array of Albums, where each Album has a response which is an Array of Albums...etc.
Anyway, I already helped you in your other question, and even went to the trouble of creating a full working code sample. Why did you create another question for the same problem ?

Use System.Xml.XmlDocument to parse the input. It shouldn't take more than an hour to write the code to extract the data yourself.

Ok - I coded up an example. I took a look at the Facebook API, now here is a FULL working example.
Try this:
[XmlRoot("photos_getAlbums_response", Namespace="http://api.facebook.com/1.0/")]
public class GetAlbumsResponse
{
public GetAlbumsResponse()
{
}
[XmlElement("album")]
public List<Album> Albums { get; set; }
}
public class Album
{
[XmlElement("aid")]
public long Aid{get;set;}
[XmlElement("cover_pid")]
public long CoverPid{get;set;}
[XmlElement("owner")]
public long Owner{get;set;}
[XmlElement("name")]
public string Name{get;set;}
[XmlElement("created")]
public long Created{get;set;}
[XmlElement("modified")]
public long Modified{get;set;}
[XmlElement("description")]
public string Description{get;set;}
[XmlElement("location")]
public string Location{get;set;}
[XmlElement("link")]
public string Link{get;set;}
[XmlElement("size")]
public int Size{get;set;}
[XmlElement("visible")]
public string Visible{get;set;}
public Album()
{}
}
class XmlUtils
{
public static T DeserializeFromXml<T>(string xml)
{
T result;
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
using (TextReader tr = new StringReader(xml))
{
result = (T)ser.Deserialize(tr);
}
return result;
}
}
Now.. with an xml photos_getAlbums_response from the Facebook API,
You can deserialize like this:
GetAlbumsResponse response = XmlUtils.DeserializeFromXml<GetAlbumsResponse>(xmlResponseString);

This is a really old thread but I just faced the same issue my self while tried to serialize two different list types in the same class under the same XmlArray name, something like
<Root>
<ArrayNode>
<SubnodeType1>...</SubnodeType1>
<SubnodeType1>...</SubnodeType1>
</ArrayNode>
</Root>
Or
<Root>
<ArrayNode>
<SubnodeType2>...</SubnodeType2>
<SubnodeType2>...</SubnodeType2>
</ArrayNode>
</Root>
What has worked for me was to use a class decoration like:
[XmlRoot(Namespace = "", ElementName = "Root")]
public class Root
{
[XmlArray(ElementName = "ArrayNode", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false, Order = 1)]
[XmlArrayItem("SubnodeType1")]
public List<SubnodeType1> SubnodeType1 { get; set; }
[XmlArray(ElementName = "ArrayNode", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false, Order = 2)]
[XmlArrayItem("SubnodeType2")]
public List<SubnodeType2> SubnodeType2 { get; set; }
}
Hope it help someone else :)

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