We Keep Coding

xmlserialize argumentexception (ArgumentException: Could not cast or convert from System.String to System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.String].)

Below piece of code is failing and throwing ArgumentException
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string xml = "<root><SourcePatient><Communication>HP:6055550120</Communication></SourcePatient></root>";
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);
var serializedString = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(doc, Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.None,true);
var deserialise = serializedString.ToObject<SampleModel>();
}
Models are,
public class SampleModel
{
public SourcePatientModel SourcePatient { get; set; }
}
public class SourcePatientModel
{
public List<string> Communication { get; set; }
}
How to deserialize this? Sometimes Communication node from xml string will have multiple entries

Your current xml is only a single entry
<Communication>HP:6055550120</Communication>
Change your xml input
<Communication><Entry>HP:6055550120</Entry></Communication>
So later when you get multiple entries, they can be processed
<Communication><Entry>HP:6055550120</Entry><Entry>HP:xxxxxxxxx</Entry></Communication>
Your class needs tweaked a bit
if a string [] is acceptable
[XmlArray(ElementName = "Communication")]
[XmlArrayItem(ElementName = "Entry")]
public string[] comm_list // Whatever name you want here
{
get; set;
}
// if you want a list here
// also if your going to do this, realize it creates a new list every time you use it, not the best. (bad practice)
List<string> Communication
{
get => new List<string>(comm_list );
}
otherwise it gets a little complicated
[XmlRoot(ElementName="Communication")]
public class Communication // element name by def
{
[XmlElement(ElementName="Entry")]
public List<string> entry { get; set; }
}
Another possibility, not sure how your multiple entries come in.
If multiple entries look like the following
<Communication>HP:6055550120, HP:7055550120</Communication>
Then you cant have a direct list,
public class SourcePatientModel
{
public string Communication { get; set; }
// which again this creates a list everytime, its better to change your xml to match a tag name for each entry
[XmlIgnore]
public List<string> CommunicationValues { get => Communication.Split(',').ToList();
}
Also this is just typed up code, there may be some typos or compile errors

First I parsed xml to the valid model, then you can convert to json if needed
using (TextReader sr = new StringReader(xml))
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SampleModel));
var schema = (SampleModel)serializer.Deserialize(sr);
}
[Serializable, XmlRoot("root")]
public class SampleModel
{
public SourcePatientModel SourcePatient { get; set; }
}
public class SourcePatientModel
{
[XmlElement("Communication")]
public List<string> Communication { get; set; }
}

I modified your classes to include some XML serialization attributes. (More on how to figure those out later - the short version is that you don't have to figure it out.)
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "SourcePatient")]
public class SourcePatientModel
{
[XmlElement(ElementName = "Communication")]
public List<string> Communication { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "root")]
public class SampleModel
{
[XmlElement(ElementName = "SourcePatient")]
public SourcePatientModel SourcePatientModel { get; set; }
}
...and this code deserializes it:
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SampleModel));
using var stringReader = new StringReader(xmlString);
SampleModel deserialized = (SampleModel) serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
Here's a unit test to make sure a test XML string is deserialized with a list of strings as expected. A unit test is a little easier to run and repeat than a console app. Using them makes writing code a lot easier.
[Test]
public void DeserializationTest()
{
string xmlString = #"
<root>
<SourcePatient>
<Communication>A</Communication>
<Communication>B</Communication>
</SourcePatient>
</root>";
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SampleModel));
using var stringReader = new StringReader(xmlString);
SampleModel deserialized = (SampleModel) serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
Assert.AreEqual(2, deserialized.SourcePatientModel.Communication.Count);
}
Here's a key takeaway: You don't need to memorize XML serialization attributes. I don't bother because I find them confusing. Instead, google "XML to Csharp" and you'll find sites like this one. I pasted your XML into that site and let it generate the classes for me. (Then I renamed them so that they matched your question.)
But be sure that you include enough sample data in your XML so that it can generate the classes for you. I made sure there were two Communication elements so it would create a List<string> in the generated class.
Sites like that might not work for extremely complicated XML, but they work for most scenarios, and it's much easier than figuring out how to write the classes ourselves.

Error in creating xml from an list of mock objects

I wanted to generate a sample xml so I write a unit test in which I have created an object using moq. I tried to serialize it like this:
private AssetDescription GetAssetDescription(string description, string type, string name, string iconUrl)
{
var asstDesp = new Mock<AssetDescription>(type);
asstDesp.Setup(m => m.Description).Returns(description);
asstDesp.Setup(m => m.Type).Returns(type);
asstDesp.Setup(m => m.Name).Returns(name);
asstDesp.Setup(m => m.IconUrl).Returns(iconUrl);
return asstDesp.Object;
}
Note: here AssetDescription is a class like this:
[DataContract]
public class AssetDescription
{
[DataMember]
public virtual string Type { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public virtual string Name { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public virtual string Description { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public virtual string IconUrl { get; set; }
public AssetDescription(string type)
{
Type = type;
}
public AssetDescription()
{
// I have added a parameter less constructor to xml serialization.
}
}
XML serialization method:
public string SerializeObject(object obj)
{
var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
{
serializer.Serialize(ms, obj);
ms.Position = 0;
xmlDoc.Load(ms);
return xmlDoc.InnerXml;
}
}
Now I can serialize the AssetDescription successfully like this :
var ds = GetAssetDescription("Description1", "type1", "name1", "iconurl1");
var dsxml = SerializeObject(ds);
Problem: AssetDescription is a part of a list and that list is part of some other object I have created that object using moq. I have break down to this after some testing:-
I am not able to serialize a list of AssetDescription it is throwing error.
Here is my list creating method:
private List<AssetDescription> GetListAssetDescriptions()
{
var lst = new List<AssetDescription>
{
GetAssetDescription("Description1", "type1", "name1", "iconurl1"),
GetAssetDescription("Description2", "type2", "name2", "iconurl2"),
GetAssetDescription("Description3", "type3", "name3", "iconurl3"),
GetAssetDescription("Description4", "type4", "name4", "iconurl4")
};
return lst;
}
I tried to serialize it like this:
var fgh = GetListAssetDescriptions();
var fghd = SerializeObject(fgh);
but this error occurs:
There was an error generating the XML document
Questions:
can I generate xml from mock objects?
if yes, then does anybody know how to solve this error?

Not an answer, but I'm puzzled with this question. Let me ask you a few questions:
Why do you need mock there? AssetDescription is a POCO, not an interface. As far as your code goes, this class does not do anything. Why can't you just create a real object, not a mock?
If you need mock there, what is the purpose of serialisation to xml? what do you do with it later?
Mocks are for testing only. One must think really hard before adding a Moq reference to non-testing project. Mocks have quite complex internal structure - they are designed to pretend to be something they are not. XML serialisation was not part of design for these guys, so no surprise you can't serialise mock into XML. And I'll go that far and say that there is no work-around for this. Because mocks must not be serialised.

C# Xml serialization, collection and root element

My app serializes objects in streams.
Here is a sample of what I need :
<links>
<link href="/users" rel="users" />
<link href="/features" rel="features" />
</links>
In this case, the object is a collection of 'links' object.
-----------First version
At first I used the DataContractSerializer, however you cannot serialize members as attributes (source)
Here is the object :
[DataContract(Name="link")]
public class LinkV1
{
[DataMember(Name="href")]
public string Url { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name="rel")]
public string Relationship { get; set; }
}
And here is the result :
<ArrayOflink xmlns:i="...." xmlns="...">
<link>
<href>/users</href>
<rel>users</rel>
</link>
<link>
<href>/features</href>
<rel>features</rel>
</link>
</ArrayOflink>
----------- Second version
Ok, not quiet what I want, so I tried the classic XmlSerializer, but... oh nooo, you cannot specify the name of the root element & of the collection's elements if the root element is a collection...
Here is the code :
[XmlRoot("link")]
public class LinkV2
{
[XmlAttribute("href")]
public string Url { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("rel")]
public string Relationship { get; set; }
}
Here is the result :
<ArrayOfLinkV2>
<LinkV2 href="/users" rel="users" />
<LinkV2 href="/features" rel="features" />
<LinkV2 href="/features/user/{keyUser}" rel="featuresByUser" />
</ArrayOfLinkV2>
----------- Third version
using XmlSerializer + a root element :
[XmlRoot("trick")]
public class TotallyUselessClass
{
[XmlArray("links"), XmlArrayItem("link")]
public List<LinkV2> Links { get; set; }
}
And its result :
<trick>
<links>
<link href="/users" rel="users" />
<link href="/features" rel="features" />
<link href="/features/user/{keyUser}" rel="featuresByUser" />
</links>
</trick>
Nice, but I don't want that root node !!
I want my collection to be the root node.
Here are the contraints :
the serialization code is generic, it works with anything serializable
the inverse operation (deserialization) have to work too
I don't want to regex the result (I serialize directly in an output stream)
What are my solutions now :
Coding my own XmlSerializer
Trick XmlSerializer when it works with a collection (I tried, having it find a XmlRootElement and plurialize it to generate its own XmlRootAttribute, but that causes problem when deserializing + the items name still keeps the class name)
Any idea ?
What really bother me in that issue, is that what I want seems to be really really really simple...

Ok, here is my final solution (hope it helps someone), that can serialize a plain array, List<>, HashSet<>, ...
To achieve this, we'll need to tell the serializer what root node to use, and it's kind of tricky...
1) Use 'XmlType' on the serializable object
[XmlType("link")]
public class LinkFinalVersion
{
[XmlAttribute("href")]
public string Url { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("rel")]
public string Relationship { get; set; }
}
2) Code a 'smart-root-detector-for-collection' method, that will return a XmlRootAttribute
private XmlRootAttribute XmlRootForCollection(Type type)
{
XmlRootAttribute result = null;
Type typeInner = null;
if(type.IsGenericType)
{
var typeGeneric = type.GetGenericArguments()[0];
var typeCollection = typeof (ICollection<>).MakeGenericType(typeGeneric);
if(typeCollection.IsAssignableFrom(type))
typeInner = typeGeneric;
}
else if(typeof (ICollection).IsAssignableFrom(type)
&& type.HasElementType)
{
typeInner = type.GetElementType();
}
// yeepeeh ! if we are working with a collection
if(typeInner != null)
{
var attributes = typeInner.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (XmlTypeAttribute), true);
if((attributes != null)
&& (attributes.Length > 0))
{
var typeName = (attributes[0] as XmlTypeAttribute).TypeName + 's';
result = new XmlRootAttribute(typeName);
}
}
return result;
}
3) Push that XmlRootAttribute into the serializer
// hack : get the XmlRootAttribute if the item is a collection
var root = XmlRootForCollection(type);
// create the serializer
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(type, root);
I told you it was tricky ;)
To improve this, you can :
A) Create a XmlTypeInCollectionAttribute to specify a custom root name (If the basic pluralization does not fit your need)
[XmlType("link")]
[XmlTypeInCollection("links")]
public class LinkFinalVersion
{
}
B) If possible, cache your XmlSerializer (in a static Dictionary for example).
In my testing, instanciating a XmlSerializer without the XmlRootAttributes takes 3ms.
If you specify an XmlRootAttribute, it takes around 80ms (Just to have a custom root node name !)

XmlSerializer should be able to do what you need, but it is highly dependent on the initial structure and setup. I use it in my own code to generate remarkably similar things.
public class Links<Link> : BaseArrayClass<Link> //use whatever base collection extension you actually need here
{
//...stuff...//
}
public class Link
{
[XmlAttribute("href")]
public string Url { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("rel")]
public string Relationship { get; set; }
}
now, serializing the Links class should generate exactly what you are looking for.
The problem with XmlSerializer is when you give it generics, it responds with generics. List implemets Array somewhere in there and the serialized result will nearly always be ArrayOf<X>. To get around that you can name the property, or the class root. The closes to what you need is probably the Second Version from your examples. Im assuming you attempted direct serialization of an object List Links. That wouldn't work because you didn't specify the root node. Now, a similar approach can be found here. In this one they specify the XmlRootAttribute when declaring the serializer. yours would look like this:
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Link>), new XmlRootAttribute("Links"));

Here you go...
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Links ls = new Links();
ls.Link.Add(new Link() { Name = "Mike", Url = "www.xml.com" });
ls.Link.Add(new Link() { Name = "Jim", Url = "www.xml.com" });
ls.Link.Add(new Link() { Name = "Peter", Url = "www.xml.com" });
XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Links));
StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
xmlSerializer.Serialize(stringWriter, ls);
string serializedXML = stringWriter.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(serializedXML);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
[XmlRoot("Links")]
public class Links
{
public Links()
{
Link = new List<Link>();
}
[XmlElement]
public List<Link> Link { get; set; }
}
[XmlType("Link")]
public class Link
{
[XmlAttribute("Name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute("Href")]
public string Url { get; set; }
}

Serializing object to XML to get list of tags named like field value

I have 2 classes:
public class LocalizationEntry
{
public List<TranslationPair> Translations
{
get;
set;
}
}
public class TranslationPair
{
public string Language
{
get;
set;
}
public string Translation
{
get;
set;
}
}
Is it possible to get such a XML using standard serializer?
<LocalizationEntry>
<Translations>
<EN>apple<EN>
<PL>jabłko<PL>
<DE>apfel<DE>
</Translations>
</LocalizationEntry>
I was thinking about something like XmlArrayItem(ElementName=this.Language) attribute but of course this construction is illegal apart from that attribute value cannot be determined in runtime.
Thanks for any help. Surely I can use other structure, but I'm curious is it possible.

To customise the element names is a pain; I would forget about XmlSerializer here, as you'd have to use IXmlSerializable which is a royal pain. I'd use XElement instead:
var source = new LocalizationEntry {
Translations = new List<TranslationPair> {
new TranslationPair {Language="EN", Translation="apple"},
new TranslationPair {Language="PL", Translation="jabłko"},
new TranslationPair {Language="DE", Translation="apfel"},
}
};
var el = new XElement("LocalizationEntry",
new XElement("Translations",
from pair in source.Translations
select new XElement(pair.Language, pair.Translation)));
var xml = el.ToString();

enter link description hereUse the XMLSerializer Object in the .NET Framework
Remember to put the Serializable Attribute on the Class Name
click this Link, i cant work out how to Add the Name of the URL sorry

Serializing Name/Value Pairs in a Custom Object via Web Service

This is a very complicated question concerning how to serialize data via a web service call, when the data is not-strongly typed. I'll try to lay it out as best possible.
Sample Storage Object:
[Serializable]
public class StorageObject {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Birthday { get; set; }
public List<NameValuePairs> OtherInfo { get; set; }
}
[Serializable]
public class NameValuePairs {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Value { get; set; }
}
Sample Use:
[WebMethod]
public List<StorageObject> GetStorageObjects() {
List<StorageObject> o = new List<StorageObject>() {
new StorageObject() {
Name = "Matthew",
Birthday = "Jan 1st, 2008",
OtherInfo = new List<NameValuePairs>() {
new NameValuePairs() { Name = "Hobbies", Value = "Programming" },
new NameValuePairs() { Name = "Website", Value = "Stackoverflow.com" }
}
},
new StorageObject() {
Name = "Joe",
Birthday = "Jan 10th, 2008",
OtherInfo = new List<NameValuePairs>() {
new NameValuePairs() { Name = "Hobbies", Value = "Programming" },
new NameValuePairs() { Name = "Website", Value = "Stackoverflow.com" }
}
}
};
return o;
}
Return Value from Web Service:
<StorageObject>
<Name>Matthew</Name>
<Birthday>Jan 1st, 2008</Birthday>
<OtherInfo>
<NameValuePairs>
<Name>Hobbies</Name>
<Value>Programming</Value>
</NameValuePairs>
<NameValuePairs>
<Name>Website</Name>
<Value>Stackoverflow.com</Value>
</NameValuePairs>
</OtherInfo>
</StorageObject>
What I want:
<OtherInfo>
<Hobbies>Programming</Hobbies>
<Website>Stackoverflow.com</Website>
</OtherInfo>
The Reason & Other Stuff:
First, I'm sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to give reproducible code as well.
I want it in this format, because I'm consuming the web services from PHP. I want to easily go:
// THIS IS IMPORANT
In PHP => "$Result["StorageObject"]["OtherInfo"]["Hobbies"]".
If it's in the other format, then there would be no way for me to accomplish that, at all. Additionally, in C# if I am consuming the service, I would also like to be able to do the following:
// THIS IS IMPORANT
In C# => var m = ServiceResult[0].OtherInfo["Hobbies"];
Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to accomplish this. I was able to get it this way, by building a custom Dictionary that implemented IXmlSerializer (see StackOverflow: IXmlSerializer Dictionary), however, it blew the WSDL schema out of the water. It's also much too complicated, and produced horrible results in my WinFormsTester application!
Is there any way to accomplish this ? What type of objects do I need to create ? Is there any way to do this /other than by making a strongly typed collection/ ? Obviously, if I make it strongly typed like this:
public class OtherInfo {
public string Hobbies { get; set; }
public string FavoriteWebsite { get; set; }
}
Then it would work perfectly, I would have no WSDL issues, I would be able to easily access it from PHP, and C# (.OtherInfo.Hobbies).
However, I would completely lose the point of NVP's, in that I would have to know in advance what the list is, and it would be unchangeable.. say, from a Database.
Thanks everyone!! I hope we're able to come up with some sort of solution to this. Here's are the requirements again:
WSDL schema should not break
Name value pairs (NVP's) should be serialized into attribute format
Should be easy to access NVP's in PHP by name ["Hobbies"]
Should be easy to access in C# (and be compatible with it's Proxy generator)
Be easily serializable
Not require me to strongly type the data
Now, I am /completely/ open to input on a better/different way to do this. I'm storing some relatively "static" information (like Name), and a bunch of pieces of data. If there's a better way, I'd love to hear it.

This is like dynamic properties for a object.
C# is not quite a dynamic language unlike javascript or maybe PHP can parse the object properties on the fly. The following two methods are what I can think of. The second one might fit into your requirements.
The KISS Way
The Keep It Simple Stupid way
public class StorageObject {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Birthday { get; set; }
public List<string> OtherInfo { get; set; }
}
You can have name value pairs which is separated by '|'
OtherInfo = {"Hobbies|Programming", "Website|Stackoverflow.com"}
Serialized forms
<StorageObject>
<Name>Matthew</Name>
<Birthday>Jan 1st, 2008</Birthday>
<OtherInfo>
<string>Hobbies|Programming</string>
<string>Website|Stackoverflow.com</string>
</OtherInfo>
</StorageObject>
The Dynamic Way in C#
Make the name value pair part become an XML element so that you can build it dynamically.
public class StorageObject {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Birthday { get; set; }
public XElement OtherInfo { get; set; } // XmlElement for dot net 2
}
You can easily build up OtherInfo object as element centric
e.g.
XElement OtherInfo = new XElement("OtherInfo");
OtherInfo.Add( ..Hobbies xelement & text value..);
OtherInfo.Add( ..WebSite xelement & text value..);
The serialized form will be
<OtherInfo>
<Hobbies>Programming</Hobbies>
<Website>Stackoverflow.com</Website>
</OtherInfo>
or build it as attribute centric
XElement OtherInfo = new XElement("OtherInfo");
OtherInfo.Add( ..nvp xattribute Hobbies & value..);
OtherInfo.Add( ..nvp xattribute WebSite & value..);
<OtherInfo>
<nvp n="Hobbies" v="Programming" />
<nvp n="Website" v="Stackoverflow.com" />
</OtherInfo>
For any dynamic language, it can access to the properties directly.
For the rest, they can access the value by read the XML. Reading XML is well supported by most of framework.

This is what I've settled on.
Class Structure:
public class StorageObject {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Birthday { get; set; }
[XmlAnyElement("Info")] // this prevents double-nodes in the XML
public XElement OtherInfo { get; set; }
}
Usage:
StorageObject o = new StorageObject();
o.OtherInfo.Add(new XElement("Hobbies","Programming");
o.OtherInfo.Add(new XElement("Website","Stackoverflow.com");
Output:
<Info>
<Hobbies>Programming</Hobbies>
<Website>Stackoverflow.com</Website>
</Info>
I would like to thank everyone for their assistance, I really appreciate the help and ideas.

As a completely different take on this, why not think about doing it completely differently. Have one web service method to return the serialized storage object, minus the OtherInfo and another method to return the list of properties (keys) for OtherInfo, and a third to return the list of values for any key. Granted, it will take more round trips to the web service if you want all of the data, but the solution will be much simpler and more flexible.
[Serializable]
public class StorageObject {
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Birthday { get; set; }
[Nonserializable]
public Dictionary<string,List<string>> OtherInfo { get; set; }
}
[WebMethod]
public List<StorageObject> GetStorageObjects() {
// returns list of storage objects from persistent storage or cache
}
[WebMethod]
public List<string> GetStorageObjectAttributes( string name )
{
// find storage object, sObj
return sObj.Keys.ToList();
}
[WebMethod]
public List<string> GetStorageObjectAtributeValues( sting name, string attribute )
{
// find storage object, sObj
return sObj[attribute];
}

Have a look into the System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializerAssemblyAttribute attribute. This lets you specify a custom class-level serializer. You'll be able to spit out whatever XML you like.
A quick way to get up to speed on these is to use sgen.exe to generate one and have a peek at it with Reflector.
-Oisin

I'm not sure this would solve your problem (it would in C#, but maybe not in PHP), but try using Dictionary<string,List<string>> OtherInfo instead of List<NameValuePairs>. Then "Hobbies" and "Websites" would be your keys and the values would be the list of hobbies or web sites. I'm not sure how it would serialize, though.
You would be able to reference the lists of hobbies as:
List<string> hobbies = storageObject.OtherInfo["Hobbies"];
[EDIT] See here for a generic XML serializable dictionary. This derived class is the one you would need to use instead of generic Dictionary.