How to compare two FlowDocuments? - c#

I want to compare a FlowDocument to a document of Rich Text Box. Here is the code
if (rtbEditor.Document != (XamlReader.Parse(currentNote.content) as FlowDocument))
{
MessageBox.Show("Overwrite existing Note?", "Save", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);
}
At the beginning I set rtbEditor's document as
rtbEditor.Document = XamlReader.Parse(currentNote.content) as FlowDocument;
Thus, unless the content of rtbEditor is changed, I thought that the if statement should not execute,but it does. Probably this is not the way to compare FlowDocuments. If this is not the correct way then how can we compare two documents?
If it is necessary, the currentNote.content is a string containing xml content of FlowDocument.

Assuming you have no images in your FlowDocument instances, you can just serialize to XAML and compare the XAML. First, create extension methods to generate the XAML strings:
public static class FrameworkContentElementExtensions
{
public static string ToXaml(this FrameworkContentElement element) // For instance, a FlowDocument
{
if (element == null)
return null;
var sb = new StringBuilder();
using (var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(sb))
{
XamlWriter.Save(element, xmlWriter);
}
return sb.ToString();
}
public static string ToFormattedXamlString(this FrameworkContentElement element)
{
if (element == null)
return null;
var settings = new XmlWriterSettings() { Indent = true, IndentChars = " " };
var sb = new StringBuilder();
using (var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(sb, settings))
{
XamlWriter.Save(element, xmlWriter);
}
return sb.ToString();
}
}
Then you can do
if (rtbEditor.Document.ToXaml() != currentNote.content)
{
MessageBox.Show("Overwrite existing Note?", "Save", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);
}
Note that if the XAML differs only because of cosmetic formatting (XML indentation), since XAML documents are valid XML, you can parse your XAML to an XElement and use XNode.DeepEquals(). You can also serialize a FrameworkContentElement directly to an XElement without the intervening string representation for improved performance:
public static class FrameworkContentElementExtensions
{
public static XElement ToXamlXElement(this FrameworkContentElement element) // For instance, a FlowDocument
{
if (element == null)
return null;
var doc = new XDocument();
using (var xmlWriter = doc.CreateWriter())
{
XamlWriter.Save(element, xmlWriter);
}
var xElement = doc.Root;
if (xElement != null)
xElement.Remove();
return xElement;
}
}
And then
var docXaml = rtbEditor.Document.ToXamlXElement();
var currentNoteXaml = XElement.Parse(currentNote.content);
if (!XNode.DeepEquals(docXaml, currentNoteXaml))
{
MessageBox.Show("Overwrite existing Note?", "Save", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);
}
If you are concerned there might be embedded messages and want to generate a warning message in this case, see Finding all Images in a FlowDocument.

Related

How to create a CSV file from a XML file

I am very new at C#. In my project I need to create a csv file which will get data from a xml data. Now, I can get data from XML, and print in looger for some particulaer attributes from xml. But I am not sure how can I store my Data into CSV file for that particular attribues.
Here is my XML file that I need to create a CSV file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<tlp:WorkUnits xmlns:tlp="http://www.timelog.com/XML/Schema/tlp/v4_4"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.timelog.com/XML/Schema/tlp/v4_4 http://www.timelog.com/api/xsd/WorkUnitsRaw.xsd">
<tlp:WorkUnit ID="130">
<tlp:EmployeeID>3</tlp:EmployeeID>
<tlp:AllocationID>114</tlp:AllocationID>
<tlp:TaskID>239</tlp:TaskID>
<tlp:ProjectID>26</tlp:ProjectID>
<tlp:ProjectName>LIK Template</tlp:ProjectName>
<tlp:CustomerId>343</tlp:CustomerId>
<tlp:CustomerName>Lekt Corp Inc.</tlp:CustomerName>
<tlp:IsBillable>1</tlp:IsBillable>
<tlp:ApprovedStatus>0</tlp:ApprovedStatus>
<tlp:LastModifiedBy>AL</tlp:LastModifiedBy>
</tlp:WorkUnit>
And my Code where I am getting this value in logger.But I am not sure how can I create a csv file that stores that value in order.
Edited
namespace TimeLog.ApiConsoleApp
{
/// <summary>
/// Template class for consuming the reporting API
/// </summary>
public class ConsumeReportingApi
{
private static readonly ILog Logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(ConsumeReportingApi));
public static void Consume()
{
if (ServiceHandler.Instance.TryAuthenticate())
{
if (Logger.IsInfoEnabled)
{
Logger.Info("Successfully authenticated on reporting API");
}
var customersRaw = ServiceHandler.Instance.Client.GetWorkUnitsRaw(ServiceHandler.Instance.SiteCode,
ServiceHandler.Instance.ApiId,
ServiceHandler.Instance.ApiPassword,
WorkUnit.All,
Employee.All,
Allocation.All,
Task.All,
Project.All,
Department.All,
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-5).ToString(),
DateTime.Now.ToString()
);
if (customersRaw.OwnerDocument != null)
{
var namespaceManager = new XmlNamespaceManager(customersRaw.OwnerDocument.NameTable);
namespaceManager.AddNamespace("tlp", "http://www.timelog.com/XML/Schema/tlp/v4_4");
var workUnit = customersRaw.SelectNodes("tlp:WorkUnit", namespaceManager);
var output = new StringBuilder();
output.AppendLine("AllocationID,ApprovedStatus,CustomerId,CustomerName,EmployeeID");
if (workUnit != null)
{
foreach (XmlNode customer in workUnit)
{
var unit = new WorkUnit();
var childNodes = customer.SelectNodes("./*");
if (childNodes != null)
{
foreach (XmlNode childNode in childNodes)
{
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeID")
{
unit.EmployeeID = Int32.Parse(childNode.InnerText);
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeFirstName")
{
unit.EmployeeFirstName = childNode.InnerText;
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeLastName")
{
unit.EmployeeLastName = childNode.InnerText;
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:AllocationID")
{
unit.AllocationID = Int32.Parse(childNode.InnerText);
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:TaskName")
{
unit.TaskName = childNode.InnerText;
}
}
}
output.AppendLine($"{unit.EmployeeID},{unit.EmployeeFirstName},{unit.EmployeeLastName},{unit.AllocationID},{unit.TaskName}");
//Console.WriteLine("---");
}
Console.WriteLine(output.ToString());
File.WriteAllText("c:\\...\\WorkUnits.csv", output.ToString());
}
}
else
{
if (Logger.IsWarnEnabled)
{
Logger.Warn("Failed to authenticate to reporting API");
}
}
}
}
}
}
You want to write the columns in the correct order to the CSV (of course), so you need to process them in the correct order. Two options:
intermediate class
Create a new class (let's call it WorkUnit) with properties for each of the columns that you want to write to the CSV. Create a new instance for every <tlp:WorkUnit> node in your XML and fill the properties when you encounter the correct subnodes. When you have processed the entire WorkUnit node, write out the properties in the correct order.
var output = new StringBuilder();
foreach (XmlNode customer in workUnit)
{
// fresh instance of the class that holds all columns (so all properties are cleared)
var unit = new WorkUnit();
var childNodes = customer.SelectNodes("./*");
if (childNodes != null)
{
foreach (XmlNode childNode in childNodes)
{
if(childNode.Name== "tlp:EmployeeID")
{
// employeeID node found, now write to the corresponding property:
unit.EmployeeId = childNode.InnerText;
}
// etc for the other XML nodes you are interested in
}
// all nodes have been processed for this one WorkUnit node
// so write a line to the CSV
output.AppendLine($"{unit.EmployeeId},{unit.AllocationId}, etc");
}
read in correct order
Instead of using foreach to loop through all subnodes in whatever order they appear, search for specific subnodes in the order you want. Then you can write out the CSV in the same order. Note that even when you don't find some subnode, you still need to write out the separator.
var output = new StringBuilder();
foreach (XmlNode customer in workUnit)
{
// search for value for first column (EmployeeID)
var node = workUnit.SelectSingleNode("tlp:EmployeeID");
if (node != null)
{
output.Append(node.InnerText).Append(',');
}
else
{
output.Append(','); // no content, but we still need a separator
}
// etc for the other columns
And of course watch out for string values that contain the separator.
Assuming that you put your XML data into List
StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var fin list.ToList())
{
str.Append(fin.listfield.ToString() + ",");
}
to create a new line:
str.Replace(",", Environment.NewLine, str.Length - 1, 1);
to save:
string filename=(DirectoryPat/filename.csv");
File.WriteAllText(Filename, str.ToString());
Try this:
var output = new StringBuilder();
output.AppendLine("AllocationID,ApprovedStatus,CustomerId,CustomerName,EmployeeID");
if (workUnit != null)
{
foreach (XmlNode customer in workUnit)
{
var unit = new WorkUnit();
var childNodes = customer.SelectNodes("./*");
if (childNodes != null)
{
for (int i = 0; i<childNodes.Count; ++i)
{
XmlNode childNode = childNodes[i];
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeID")
{
unit.EmployeeID = Int32.Parse(childNode.InnerText);
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeFirstName")
{
unit.EmployeeFirstName = childNode.InnerText;
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:EmployeeLastName")
{
unit.EmployeeLastName = childNode.InnerText;
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:AllocationID")
{
unit.AllocationID = Int32.Parse(childNode.InnerText);
}
if (childNode.Name == "tlp:TaskName")
{
unit.TaskName = childNode.InnerText;
}
output.Append(childNode.InnerText);
if (i<childNodes.Count - 1)
output.Append(",");
}
output.Append(Environment.NewLine);
}
}
Console.WriteLine(output.ToString());
File.WriteAllText("c:\\Users\\mnowshin\\projects\\WorkUnits.csv", output.ToString());
}
You can use this sequence:
a. Deserialize (i.e. convert from XML to C# objects) your XML.
b. Write a simple loop to write the data to a file.
The advantages of this sequence:
You can use a list of your data/objects "readable" that you can add any other access code to it.
If you XML schema changed at any time, you can maintain the code very easily.
The solution
a. Desrialize:
Copy you XML file contents. Note You should modify your XML input before coping it.. You should double the WorkUnit node, in order to tell Visual Studio that you would have a list of this node nested inside WorkUnits node.
From Visual Studio Menus select Edit -> Paste Special -> Paste XML as Classes.
Use the deserialize code.
var workUnitsNode = customersRaw.SelectSingleNode("tlp:WorkUnits", namespaceManager);
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(WorkUnits));
WorkUnits workUnits = (WorkUnits)ser.Deserialize(workUnitsNode);
b. Write the csv file
StringBuilder csvContent = new StringBuilder();
// add the header line
csvContent.AppendLine("AllocationID,ApprovedStatus,CustomerId,CustomerName,EmployeeID");
foreach (var unit in workUnits.WorkUnit)
{
csvContent.AppendFormat(
"{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}",
new object[]
{
unit.AllocationID,
unit.ApprovedStatus,
unit.CustomerId,
unit.CustomerName,
unit.EmployeeID
// you get the idea
});
csvContent.AppendLine();
}
File.WriteAllText(#"G:\Projects\StackOverFlow\WpfApp1\WorkUnits.csv", csvContent.ToString());
You can use Cinchoo ETL - if you have room to use open source library
using (var csvWriter = new ChoCSVWriter("sample1.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
using (var xmlReader = new ChoXmlReader("sample1.xml"))
csvWriter.Write(xmlReader);
}
Output:
ID,tlp_EmployeeID,tlp_AllocationID,tlp_TaskID,tlp_ProjectID,tlp_ProjectName,tlp_CustomerId,tlp_CustomerName,tlp_IsBillable,tlp_ApprovedStatus,tlp_LastModifiedBy
130,3,114,239,26,LIK Template,343,Lekt Corp Inc.,1,0,AL
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this library.

Serialize object to XML WITHIN a parent element

I've got a WPF C# program and at one point I need to serialize objects to XML. In other places, I've been using this:
TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter(xmlFilePath);
XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MYOBJECT_TYPE));
try
{
xmlSerializer.Serialize(writer, MYOBJECT);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Exception occured while writing to Xml" + ex.Message);
}
finally
{
writer.Close();
}
This is fantastic, but this means I have to have a different XML file for every object I want to serialize. How do I use this method (with the least amount of modifications) to serialize the object to the XML WITHIN a parent element? That way, when I want to deserialize the object later, I can just find the element that I want, and deserialize everything within that element.
As requested, here is CreateDefaultXml();:
static void CreateDefaultXml()
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml("<StoredObjects></StoredObjects>");
XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement;
try
{
doc.Save(xmlFilePath);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Exception occured while creating Xml" + ex.InnerException);
}
}
EDIT:
Currently, this is what I've got (but it throws an exception There was an error generating the XML document.)
if (!File.Exists(xmlFilePath))
CreateDefaultXml();
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(xmlFilePath);
var element = doc.Descendants("Object").Where(x => x.Attribute("Name").Value.Equals("objectName")).SingleOrDefault();
if (element == null)
{
element = new XElement("Object", new XAttribute("Name", objectName));
doc.Element("StoredObjects").Add(element);
}
XmlWriter writer = element.CreateWriter();
XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MYOBJECT_TYPE));
try
{
xmlSerializer.Serialize(writer, MYOBJECT);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Exception occured while writing to Xml: " + ex.Message);
}
finally
{
writer.Close();
doc.Save(xmlFilePath);
}
You are trying to serialize directly to some nested XElement inside an XDocument using XmlSerializer. Unfortunately, it seems that, when serializing directly to a LINQ-to-XML XElement using XmlSerializer together with XContainer.CreateWriter(), it is actually necessary to serialize to an empty XDocument thereby creating its root element. (I am not sure why this restriction exists, but it does.) Since this doesn't meet your needs, it is easy to serialize to a temporary XDocument, remove its root node, then add that node to your overall element hierarchy.
Also, when adding an object to your database using an objectName that already has XML data stored, you need to remove the old data.
I refactored your code into extension methods to accomplish this:
public static class XmlExtensions
{
public static T Deserialize<T>(this XContainer element, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
{
using (var reader = element.CreateReader())
{
object result = (serializer ?? new XmlSerializer(typeof(T))).Deserialize(reader);
if (result is T)
return (T)result;
}
return default(T);
}
public static XElement SerializeToXElement<T>(this T obj, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
{
var doc = new XDocument();
using (var writer = doc.CreateWriter())
(serializer ?? new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType())).Serialize(writer, obj);
var element = doc.Root;
if (element != null)
element.Remove();
return element;
}
public static XName ContainerElementName { get { return (XName)"Object"; } }
public static XName ContainerAttributeName { get { return (XName)"Name"; } }
public static XElement SetItem<T>(this XDocument doc, string attributeValue, T obj)
{
return doc.SetItem(ContainerElementName, ContainerAttributeName, attributeValue, obj);
}
static XElement SetItem<T>(this XDocument doc, XName containerElementName, XName containerAttributeName, string attributeValue, T obj)
{
if (doc == null || containerElementName == null || containerAttributeName == null || attributeValue == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException();
if (doc.Root == null)
throw new ArgumentException("doc.Root == null");
var container = doc.Root.Elements(containerElementName).Where(e => (string)e.Attribute(containerAttributeName) == attributeValue).SingleOrDefault();
if (container == null)
{
container = new XElement(containerElementName, new XAttribute(containerAttributeName, attributeValue));
doc.Root.Add(container);
}
else
{
// Remove old content.
container.RemoveNodes();
}
var element = obj.SerializeToXElement();
container.Add(element);
return element;
}
public static T GetItem<T>(this XDocument doc, string attributeValue)
{
return doc.GetItem<T>(ContainerElementName, ContainerAttributeName, attributeValue);
}
static T GetItem<T>(this XDocument doc, XName containerElementName, XName containerAttributeName, string attributeValue)
{
if (doc == null || containerElementName == null || containerAttributeName == null || attributeValue == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException();
if (doc.Root == null)
throw new ArgumentException("doc.Root == null");
var container = doc.Root.Elements(containerElementName).Where(e => (string)e.Attribute(containerAttributeName) == attributeValue).SingleOrDefault();
if (container == null)
return default(T);
var element = container.Elements().SingleOrDefault();
if (element == null)
return default(T);
return element.Deserialize<T>();
}
public static XDocument CreateDefaultXDocument()
{
var xml = #"<StoredObjects></StoredObjects>";
return XDocument.Parse(xml);
}
}
Now you can do
doc.AddItem(MYOBJECT, objectName);
And later
var MYOBJECT2 = doc.GetItem<MYOBJECT_TYPE>(objectName);
Example fiddle.

Simplest way to get a URI from an attribute value?

In my XML, I have an element like
<myElement myAttribute="myNamespacePrefix:foobar"/>
There is a xmlns declaration in this file:
<xmlns:myNamespacePrefix="http://www.mydomain.com/blah#"/>
I want to make a URI from the value of myAttribute.
IE, I want:
http://www.mydomain.com/blah#foobar
Sounds simple, doesn't it?
So what is the simple solution?
I couldn't find anything in the Framework or on MSDN, so I just had to write this no-doubt bug-ridden mess:
public static Uri GetUri(string value, XElement containingElement)
{
if (value.Contains(":"))
{
var prefix = String.Concat(value.TakeWhile(c => c != ':'));
XNamespace ns;
if (containingElement.GetNamespaceOfPrefix(prefix) != null)
ns = containingElement.GetNamespaceOfPrefix(prefix);
else ns = containingElement.GetDefaultNamespace();
var localName = String.Concat(value.SkipWhile(c => c != ':').Skip(1));
Contract.Assert(ns != null);
if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ns.NamespaceName))
return new Uri(value);
else
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(ns.NamespaceName);
if (!ns.NamespaceName.EndsWith("#"))
{
sb.Append('#');
}
return new Uri(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "{0}{1}", sb.ToString(), localName));
}
}
else // no namespace prefix
{
String fragment;
if (!value.StartsWith("#"))
fragment = value.Insert(0, "#");
else
fragment = value;
var uriString = String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "{0}{1}", containingElement.BaseUri, fragment);
return new Uri(uriString);
}
}
I have done some XML-related stuff recently. This is an example of what I used to get information from the XML in C#:
XmlDocument XML = new XmlDocument();
XML.LoadXml(/* XML data in string format goes here */);
Then you can do things like the following:
if (XML["myElement"] != null)
{
string myAttributeStr = XML["myElement"].Attributes["myAttribute"].Value.ToString().Trim();
}

CreateAttribute methods throws System.NotSupportedException

public void AddNodeToXml(string helpid, string fileName)
{
const string STR_EXPRESSION = "/Form/Controls/Control";
XPathDocument doc = null;
try
{
doc = new XPathDocument(fileName);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Message);
}
if (doc != null)
{
XPathNavigator navigator = doc.CreateNavigator();
XPathNodeIterator localIterator = navigator.Select(STR_EXPRESSION);
while (localIterator.MoveNext())
{
if (localIterator.Current != null)
{
if (localIterator.Current.Name.Equals("Control"))
{
localIterator.Current.MoveToFirstAttribute();
if (localIterator.Current.Value.Equals(helpid))
{
localIterator.Current.MoveToParent();
localIterator.Current.CreateAttribute(string.Empty, "NewAttribute", string.Empty, "value");
}
}
}
}
}
}
My xml structure is as show in STR_EXPRESSION
I want to add new attribute to the control node if currnet cotrol name attribute value is "helpid",I tried using CreateAttribute() this method but it gives an exception as System.NotSupportedException.
this would be so much easier with Linq to XML, is there any reason you aren't using it?
This is untested code I wrote off the top of my head, but it should be pretty close, it shows how you would use Linq to solve the same problem:
XElement root = XDocument.Load(fileName).Root; //get the root element of the XML document
foreach (var controlElement in root.Descendants("Control").Where(c=>c.Attributes[0] != null && c.Attributes[0].value == helpId)) //get all of the control elements with the appropriate helpid value
{
if (controlElement.Parent == null) continue; // it's always good to be defensive
controlElement.Parent.Attributes.Add("NewAttribute", string.Empty);
}

How to convert JSON to XML or XML to JSON?

I started to use Json.NET to convert a string in JSON format to object or viceversa. I am not sure in the Json.NET framework, is it possible to convert a string in JSON to XML format and viceversa?
Yes. Using the JsonConvert class which contains helper methods for this precise purpose:
// To convert an XML node contained in string xml into a JSON string
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);
string jsonText = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(doc);
// To convert JSON text contained in string json into an XML node
XmlDocument doc = JsonConvert.DeserializeXmlNode(json);
Documentation here: Converting between JSON and XML with Json.NET
Yes, you can do it (I do) but Be aware of some paradoxes when converting, and handle appropriately. You cannot automatically conform to all interface possibilities, and there is limited built-in support in controlling the conversion- many JSON structures and values cannot automatically be converted both ways. Keep in mind I am using the default settings with Newtonsoft JSON library and MS XML library, so your mileage may vary:
XML -> JSON
All data becomes string data (for example you will always get "false" not false or "0" not 0) Obviously JavaScript treats these differently in certain cases.
Children elements can become nested-object {} OR nested-array [ {} {} ...] depending if there is only one or more than one XML child-element. You would consume these two differently in JavaScript, etc. Different examples of XML conforming to the same schema can produce actually different JSON structures this way. You can add the attribute json:Array='true' to your element to workaround this in some (but not necessarily all) cases.
Your XML must be fairly well-formed, I have noticed it doesn't need to perfectly conform to W3C standard, but 1. you must have a root element and 2. you cannot start element names with numbers are two of the enforced XML standards I have found when using Newtonsoft and MS libraries.
In older versions, Blank elements do not convert to JSON. They are ignored. A blank element does not become "element":null
A new update changes how null can be handled (Thanks to Jon Story for pointing it out): https://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/T_Newtonsoft_Json_NullValueHandling.htm
JSON -> XML
You need a top level object that will convert to a root XML element or the parser will fail.
Your object names cannot start with a number, as they cannot be converted to elements (XML is technically even more strict than this) but I can 'get away' with breaking some of the other element naming rules.
Please feel free to mention any other issues you have noticed, I have developed my own custom routines for preparing and cleaning the strings as I convert back and forth. Your situation may or may not call for prep/cleanup. As StaxMan mentions, your situation may actually require that you convert between objects...this could entail appropriate interfaces and a bunch of case statements/etc to handle the caveats I mention above.
You can do these conversions also with the .NET Framework:
JSON to XML: by using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json
var xml = XDocument.Load(JsonReaderWriterFactory.CreateJsonReader(
Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(jsonString), new XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas()));
XML to JSON: by using System.Web.Script.Serialization
var json = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(GetXmlData(XElement.Parse(xmlString)));
private static Dictionary<string, object> GetXmlData(XElement xml)
{
var attr = xml.Attributes().ToDictionary(d => d.Name.LocalName, d => (object)d.Value);
if (xml.HasElements) attr.Add("_value", xml.Elements().Select(e => GetXmlData(e)));
else if (!xml.IsEmpty) attr.Add("_value", xml.Value);
return new Dictionary<string, object> { { xml.Name.LocalName, attr } };
}
I'm not sure there is point in such conversion (yes, many do it, but mostly to force a square peg through round hole) -- there is structural impedance mismatch, and conversion is lossy. So I would recommend against such format-to-format transformations.
But if you do it, first convert from json to object, then from object to xml (and vice versa for reverse direction). Doing direct transformation leads to ugly output, loss of information, or possibly both.
Thanks for David Brown's answer. In my case of JSON.Net 3.5, the convert methods are under the JsonConvert static class:
XmlNode myXmlNode = JsonConvert.DeserializeXmlNode(myJsonString); // is node not note
// or .DeserilizeXmlNode(myJsonString, "root"); // if myJsonString does not have a root
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(myXmlNode);
I searched for a long time to find alternative code to the accepted solution in the hopes of not using an external assembly/project. I came up with the following thanks to the source code of the DynamicJson project:
public XmlDocument JsonToXML(string json)
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
using (var reader = JsonReaderWriterFactory.CreateJsonReader(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json), XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas.Max))
{
XElement xml = XElement.Load(reader);
doc.LoadXml(xml.ToString());
}
return doc;
}
Note: I wanted an XmlDocument rather than an XElement for xPath purposes.
Also, this code obviously only goes from JSON to XML, there are various ways to do the opposite.
Here is the full c# code to convert xml to json
public static class JSon
{
public static string XmlToJSON(string xml)
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);
return XmlToJSON(doc);
}
public static string XmlToJSON(XmlDocument xmlDoc)
{
StringBuilder sbJSON = new StringBuilder();
sbJSON.Append("{ ");
XmlToJSONnode(sbJSON, xmlDoc.DocumentElement, true);
sbJSON.Append("}");
return sbJSON.ToString();
}
// XmlToJSONnode: Output an XmlElement, possibly as part of a higher array
private static void XmlToJSONnode(StringBuilder sbJSON, XmlElement node, bool showNodeName)
{
if (showNodeName)
sbJSON.Append("\"" + SafeJSON(node.Name) + "\": ");
sbJSON.Append("{");
// Build a sorted list of key-value pairs
// where key is case-sensitive nodeName
// value is an ArrayList of string or XmlElement
// so that we know whether the nodeName is an array or not.
SortedList<string, object> childNodeNames = new SortedList<string, object>();
// Add in all node attributes
if (node.Attributes != null)
foreach (XmlAttribute attr in node.Attributes)
StoreChildNode(childNodeNames, attr.Name, attr.InnerText);
// Add in all nodes
foreach (XmlNode cnode in node.ChildNodes)
{
if (cnode is XmlText)
StoreChildNode(childNodeNames, "value", cnode.InnerText);
else if (cnode is XmlElement)
StoreChildNode(childNodeNames, cnode.Name, cnode);
}
// Now output all stored info
foreach (string childname in childNodeNames.Keys)
{
List<object> alChild = (List<object>)childNodeNames[childname];
if (alChild.Count == 1)
OutputNode(childname, alChild[0], sbJSON, true);
else
{
sbJSON.Append(" \"" + SafeJSON(childname) + "\": [ ");
foreach (object Child in alChild)
OutputNode(childname, Child, sbJSON, false);
sbJSON.Remove(sbJSON.Length - 2, 2);
sbJSON.Append(" ], ");
}
}
sbJSON.Remove(sbJSON.Length - 2, 2);
sbJSON.Append(" }");
}
// StoreChildNode: Store data associated with each nodeName
// so that we know whether the nodeName is an array or not.
private static void StoreChildNode(SortedList<string, object> childNodeNames, string nodeName, object nodeValue)
{
// Pre-process contraction of XmlElement-s
if (nodeValue is XmlElement)
{
// Convert <aa></aa> into "aa":null
// <aa>xx</aa> into "aa":"xx"
XmlNode cnode = (XmlNode)nodeValue;
if (cnode.Attributes.Count == 0)
{
XmlNodeList children = cnode.ChildNodes;
if (children.Count == 0)
nodeValue = null;
else if (children.Count == 1 && (children[0] is XmlText))
nodeValue = ((XmlText)(children[0])).InnerText;
}
}
// Add nodeValue to ArrayList associated with each nodeName
// If nodeName doesn't exist then add it
List<object> ValuesAL;
if (childNodeNames.ContainsKey(nodeName))
{
ValuesAL = (List<object>)childNodeNames[nodeName];
}
else
{
ValuesAL = new List<object>();
childNodeNames[nodeName] = ValuesAL;
}
ValuesAL.Add(nodeValue);
}
private static void OutputNode(string childname, object alChild, StringBuilder sbJSON, bool showNodeName)
{
if (alChild == null)
{
if (showNodeName)
sbJSON.Append("\"" + SafeJSON(childname) + "\": ");
sbJSON.Append("null");
}
else if (alChild is string)
{
if (showNodeName)
sbJSON.Append("\"" + SafeJSON(childname) + "\": ");
string sChild = (string)alChild;
sChild = sChild.Trim();
sbJSON.Append("\"" + SafeJSON(sChild) + "\"");
}
else
XmlToJSONnode(sbJSON, (XmlElement)alChild, showNodeName);
sbJSON.Append(", ");
}
// Make a string safe for JSON
private static string SafeJSON(string sIn)
{
StringBuilder sbOut = new StringBuilder(sIn.Length);
foreach (char ch in sIn)
{
if (Char.IsControl(ch) || ch == '\'')
{
int ich = (int)ch;
sbOut.Append(#"\u" + ich.ToString("x4"));
continue;
}
else if (ch == '\"' || ch == '\\' || ch == '/')
{
sbOut.Append('\\');
}
sbOut.Append(ch);
}
return sbOut.ToString();
}
}
To convert a given XML string to JSON, simply call XmlToJSON() function as below.
string xml = "<menu id=\"file\" value=\"File\"> " +
"<popup>" +
"<menuitem value=\"New\" onclick=\"CreateNewDoc()\" />" +
"<menuitem value=\"Open\" onclick=\"OpenDoc()\" />" +
"<menuitem value=\"Close\" onclick=\"CloseDoc()\" />" +
"</popup>" +
"</menu>";
string json = JSON.XmlToJSON(xml);
// json = { "menu": {"id": "file", "popup": { "menuitem": [ {"onclick": "CreateNewDoc()", "value": "New" }, {"onclick": "OpenDoc()", "value": "Open" }, {"onclick": "CloseDoc()", "value": "Close" } ] }, "value": "File" }}
For convert JSON string to XML try this:
public string JsonToXML(string json)
{
XDocument xmlDoc = new XDocument(new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", ""));
XElement root = new XElement("Root");
root.Name = "Result";
var dataTable = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DataTable>(json);
root.Add(
from row in dataTable.AsEnumerable()
select new XElement("Record",
from column in dataTable.Columns.Cast<DataColumn>()
select new XElement(column.ColumnName, row[column])
)
);
xmlDoc.Add(root);
return xmlDoc.ToString();
}
For convert XML to JSON try this:
public string XmlToJson(string xml)
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);
string jsonText = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(doc);
return jsonText;
}
Here is a simple snippet that converts a XmlNode (recursively) into a hashtable, and groups multiple instances of the same child into an array (as an ArrayList).
The Hashtable is usually accepted to convert into JSON by most of the JSON libraries.
protected object convert(XmlNode root){
Hashtable obj = new Hashtable();
for(int i=0,n=root.ChildNodes.Count;i<n;i++){
object result = null;
XmlNode current = root.ChildNodes.Item(i);
if(current.NodeType != XmlNodeType.Text)
result = convert(current);
else{
int resultInt;
double resultFloat;
bool resultBoolean;
if(Int32.TryParse(current.Value, out resultInt)) return resultInt;
if(Double.TryParse(current.Value, out resultFloat)) return resultFloat;
if(Boolean.TryParse(current.Value, out resultBoolean)) return resultBoolean;
return current.Value;
}
if(obj[current.Name] == null)
obj[current.Name] = result;
else if(obj[current.Name].GetType().Equals(typeof(ArrayList)))
((ArrayList)obj[current.Name]).Add(result);
else{
ArrayList collision = new ArrayList();
collision.Add(obj[current.Name]);
collision.Add(result);
obj[current.Name] = collision;
}
}
return obj;
}
Try this function. I just wrote it and haven't had much of a chance to test it, but my preliminary tests are promising.
public static XmlDocument JsonToXml(string json)
{
XmlNode newNode = null;
XmlNode appendToNode = null;
XmlDocument returnXmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
returnXmlDoc.LoadXml("<Document />");
XmlNode rootNode = returnXmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("Document");
appendToNode = rootNode;
string[] arrElementData;
string[] arrElements = json.Split('\r');
foreach (string element in arrElements)
{
string processElement = element.Replace("\r", "").Replace("\n", "").Replace("\t", "").Trim();
if ((processElement.IndexOf("}") > -1 || processElement.IndexOf("]") > -1) && appendToNode != rootNode)
{
appendToNode = appendToNode.ParentNode;
}
else if (processElement.IndexOf("[") > -1)
{
processElement = processElement.Replace(":", "").Replace("[", "").Replace("\"", "").Trim();
newNode = returnXmlDoc.CreateElement(processElement);
appendToNode.AppendChild(newNode);
appendToNode = newNode;
}
else if (processElement.IndexOf("{") > -1 && processElement.IndexOf(":") > -1)
{
processElement = processElement.Replace(":", "").Replace("{", "").Replace("\"", "").Trim();
newNode = returnXmlDoc.CreateElement(processElement);
appendToNode.AppendChild(newNode);
appendToNode = newNode;
}
else
{
if (processElement.IndexOf(":") > -1)
{
arrElementData = processElement.Replace(": \"", ":").Replace("\",", "").Replace("\"", "").Split(':');
newNode = returnXmlDoc.CreateElement(arrElementData[0]);
for (int i = 1; i < arrElementData.Length; i++)
{
newNode.InnerText += arrElementData[i];
}
appendToNode.AppendChild(newNode);
}
}
}
return returnXmlDoc;
}
I did like David Brown said but I got the following exception.
$exception {"There are multiple root elements. Line , position ."} System.Xml.XmlException
One solution would be to modify the XML file with a root element but that is not always necessary and for an XML stream it might not be possible either. My solution below:
var path = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, #"..\..\App_Data"));
var directoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(path);
var fileInfos = directoryInfo.GetFiles("*.xml");
foreach (var fileInfo in fileInfos)
{
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
settings.ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Fragment;
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(fileInfo.FullName, settings))
{
while (reader.Read())
{
if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
{
var node = doc.ReadNode(reader);
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(node);
}
}
}
}
Example XML that generates the error:
<parent>
<child>
Text
</child>
</parent>
<parent>
<child>
<grandchild>
Text
</grandchild>
<grandchild>
Text
</grandchild>
</child>
<child>
Text
</child>
</parent>
I have used the below methods to convert the JSON to XML
List <Item> items;
public void LoadJsonAndReadToXML() {
using(StreamReader r = new StreamReader(# "E:\Json\overiddenhotelranks.json")) {
string json = r.ReadToEnd();
items = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject <List<Item>> (json);
ReadToXML();
}
}
And
public void ReadToXML() {
try {
var xEle = new XElement("Items",
from item in items select new XElement("Item",
new XElement("mhid", item.mhid),
new XElement("hotelName", item.hotelName),
new XElement("destination", item.destination),
new XElement("destinationID", item.destinationID),
new XElement("rank", item.rank),
new XElement("toDisplayOnFod", item.toDisplayOnFod),
new XElement("comment", item.comment),
new XElement("Destinationcode", item.Destinationcode),
new XElement("LoadDate", item.LoadDate)
));
xEle.Save("E:\\employees.xml");
Console.WriteLine("Converted to XML");
} catch (Exception ex) {
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
I have used the class named Item to represent the elements
public class Item {
public int mhid { get; set; }
public string hotelName { get; set; }
public string destination { get; set; }
public int destinationID { get; set; }
public int rank { get; set; }
public int toDisplayOnFod { get; set; }
public string comment { get; set; }
public string Destinationcode { get; set; }
public string LoadDate { get; set; }
}
It works....
Cinchoo ETL - an open source library available to do the conversion of Xml to JSON easily with few lines of code
Xml -> JSON:
using (var p = new ChoXmlReader("sample.xml"))
{
using (var w = new ChoJSONWriter("sample.json"))
{
w.Write(p);
}
}
JSON -> Xml:
using (var p = new ChoJsonReader("sample.json"))
{
using (var w = new ChoXmlWriter("sample.xml"))
{
w.Write(p);
}
}
Sample fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/enUJKu
Checkout CodeProject articles for some additional help.
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this library.
Here's an example of how to convert JSON to XML using .NET built-in libraries (instead of 3rd party libraries like Newtonsoft).
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Text.Json.Nodes;
using System.Xml.Linq;
XDocument xmlDoc = jsonToXml(jsonObj);
private XDocument jsonToXml(JsonObject obj)
{
var xmlDoc = new XDocument();
var root = new XElement("Root");
xmlDoc.Add(root);
foreach (var prop in obj)
{
var xElement = new XElement(prop.Key);
xElement.Value = prop.Value.ToString();
root.Add(xElement);
}
return xmlDoc;
}

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