Is there an easy way to construct class from a XML. The constructed class will be used to serialize and deserialize XML.
I have an XML with lots of properties and elements defined. Do I need to manually create my class based on that XML? Or Is there a utility tool available to generate class from XML
Thanks,
Esen
Further on Willem's post:
This will generate the XSD (not dataset)
xsd.exe myCustom.xml
This generates the C# class:
xsd.exe myCustom.xsd /c
There's a round about way:
Using xsd.exe, you can first create a schema (xsd) from your xml file, which can then be used as input for xsd.exe to generate classes from the schema.
i.e. (from the command prompt):
xsd.exe myXmlFile.xml
to output myXmlFile.xsd
and next
xsd.exe myXmlFile.xsd
to generate classes from the xsd file.
#Willem van Rumpt: solution helped me to generate class. But in some case when I try to instantiate the dataset, I end up receiving this exception "Same Table cannot be the child table in two nested relations..."
I have tried different solution using xmldocument object to navigate each nodes and generate my class that can be used to serialize and deserialize xml file. Thought to post it here so that it would be helpful to someone who is looking for similar solution. Please post your optimized solution if you have one.
namespace Utility1
{
public static class XMLHelper
{
private enum XMLType
{
Element,
Attribute
}
public static string GenerateXMLClass(string xmlstring)
{
XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
xd.LoadXml(xmlstring);
XmlNode rootNode = xd.DocumentElement;
var xmlClassCollection = new Dictionary<string, XMLClass>();
var xmlClass = new XMLClass();
xmlClassCollection.Add(rootNode.Name, xmlClass);
CollectAttributes(ref xmlClass, rootNode);
CollectElements(ref xmlClass, rootNode);
CollectChildClass(ref xmlClassCollection, rootNode);
var clsBuilder = new StringBuilder();
clsBuilder.AppendLine("[XmlRoot(\"" + rootNode.Name + "\")]");
foreach (var cls in xmlClassCollection)
{
clsBuilder.AppendLine("public class " + cls.Key);
clsBuilder.AppendLine("{");
foreach (var element in cls.Value.Elements)
{
if (XMLType.Element == element.XmlType)
clsBuilder.AppendLine("[XmlElement(\"" + element.Name + "\")]");
else
clsBuilder.AppendLine("[XmlAttribute(\"" + element.Name + "\")]");
clsBuilder.AppendLine("public " + element.Type + element.Name + "{get;set;}");
}
clsBuilder.AppendLine("}");
}
return clsBuilder.ToString();
}
private static void CollectAttributes(ref XMLClass xmlClass, XmlNode node)
{
if (null != node.Attributes)
{
foreach (XmlAttribute attr in node.Attributes)
{
if (null == xmlClass.Elements.SingleOrDefault(o => o.Name == attr.Name))
xmlClass.Elements.Add(new Element("string ", attr.Name, XMLType.Attribute));
}
}
}
private static bool IsEndElement(XmlNode node)
{
if ((null == node.Attributes || node.Attributes.Count <= 0) &&
(null == node.ChildNodes || !node.HasChildNodes || (node.ChildNodes.Count == 1 && node.ChildNodes[0].NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text)))
{
return true;
}
return false;
}
private static void CollectElements(ref XMLClass xmlClass, XmlNode node)
{
foreach (XmlNode childNode in node.ChildNodes)
{
if (null == xmlClass.Elements.SingleOrDefault(o => o.Name == childNode.Name))
{
var occurance = node.ChildNodes.Cast<XmlNode>().Where(o => o.Name == childNode.Name).Count();
var appender = " ";
if (occurance > 1)
appender = "[] ";
if(IsEndElement(childNode))
{
xmlClass.Elements.Add(new Element("string" + appender, childNode.Name, XMLType.Element));
}
else
{
xmlClass.Elements.Add(new Element(childNode.Name + appender, childNode.Name, XMLType.Element));
}
}
}
}
private static void CollectChildClass(ref Dictionary<string, XMLClass> xmlClsCollection, XmlNode node)
{
foreach (XmlNode childNode in node.ChildNodes)
{
if (!IsEndElement(childNode))
{
XMLClass xmlClass;
if (xmlClsCollection.ContainsKey(childNode.Name))
xmlClass = xmlClsCollection[childNode.Name];
else
{
xmlClass = new XMLClass();
xmlClsCollection.Add(childNode.Name, xmlClass);
}
CollectAttributes(ref xmlClass, childNode);
CollectElements(ref xmlClass, childNode);
CollectChildClass(ref xmlClsCollection, childNode);
}
}
}
private class XMLClass
{
public XMLClass()
{
Elements = new List<Element>();
}
public List<Element> Elements { get; set; }
}
private class Element
{
public Element(string type, string name, XMLType xmltype)
{
Type = type;
Name = name;
XmlType = xmltype;
}
public XMLType XmlType { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Type { get; set; }
}
}
}
thanks,
Esen
Related
Hello in a C# WCF Service application i want to return an array of 5 strings in a method. The above code isn't returning any errors but when i launch the Service in debug mode it only shows the first string on the Array.
Here's the IService side :
[OperationContract]
string[] NaviresXml();
Here's the Service side :
public string[] NaviresXml()
{
try
{
XMLReader x = new XMLReader(FilePath);
return new string[] { x.ReadXmlDocument_Navires() };
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new Exception(ex.Message + "\n" + ex.StackTrace);
}
}
And the XMLReader Class :
public class XMLReader
{
public string XmlFilePath { get; set; }
public XMLReader(string XmlFilePath)
{
this.XmlFilePath = XmlFilePath;
}
public string ReadXmlDocument_Navires()
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc1 = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc1.Load(XmlFilePath);
XmlNodeList itemNodes = xmlDoc1.GetElementsByTagName("Navire");
if (itemNodes.Count > 0)
{
foreach (XmlElement node in itemNodes)
return "Navire" + node.Attributes["Type"].Value + "Nom" + node.Attributes["Nom"].Value;
}
return null;
}
}
When i launch the Service i can see only the first string but not the others.
enter image description here
What is wrong with this code?
I've tried to do it without the XMLReader Class and put the code directly in the Service side but this didn't worked.
Move the return statement outside your loop.
StringBuilder stringContent = new StringBuilder();
if (itemNodes.Count > 0)
{
foreach (XmlElement node in itemNodes)
stringContent.Append("Navire" + node.Attributes["Type"].Value + "Nom" + node.Attributes["Nom"].Value);
}
return stringContent.ToString();
When a return statement is executed, function execution stops and jumps out of the executing function, even if there are other statements in the body of the function. The code after return is not executed.
So you need to put the return out of the loop like this:
public class XMLReader
{
public string XmlFilePath { get; set; }
public XMLReader(string XmlFilePath)
{
this.XmlFilePath = XmlFilePath;
}
public string ReadXmlDocument_Navires()
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc1 = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc1.Load(XmlFilePath);
XmlNodeList itemNodes = xmlDoc1.GetElementsByTagName("Navire");
StringBuilder res = new StringBuilder();
if (itemNodes.Count > 0)
{
foreach (XmlElement node in itemNodes)
res.append("Navire" + node.Attributes["Type"].Value + "Nom" + node.Attributes["Nom"].Value);
}
return res.ToString();
}
return null;
}
I'm trying to parse an XML file of size around 400KB. But I cannot overcome the stack overflow exception. First I create XmlReader and pass it to the XML file. Then I create XElement from the XmlReader.
This is my code:
private ViewContent ParseToView(XElement xElement)
{
ViewContent viewContent = new ViewContent();
viewContent.elementName = xElement.Name.LocalName;
foreach (XAttribute item in xElement.Attributes())
{
viewContent.attributes.Add(new ElementAttribute(item.Name.ToString(), item.Value));
}
foreach (XElement item in xElement.Elements())
{
viewContent.viewContents.Add(ParseToView(xElement));
}
return new ViewContent();
}
}
public class ViewContent
{
public string elementName;
public List<ElementAttribute> attributes = new List<ElementAttribute>();
public List<ViewContent> viewContents = new List<ViewContent>();
}
public class ElementAttribute
{
public ElementAttribute(string attributeName, string attributeValue)
{
this.attributeName = attributeName;
this.attributeValue = attributeValue;
}
public string attributeName;
public string attributeValue;
}
In method ParseToView you are calling same method recursively but you're calling it with same parameter - viewContent.viewContents.Add(ParseToView(xElement)); - this causes stackoverflow:
viewContent.viewContents.Add(ParseToView(xElement));
should have probably been:
viewContent.viewContents.Add(ParseToView(item));
in method:
private ViewContent ParseToView(XElement xElement)
{
ViewContent viewContent = new ViewContent();
viewContent.elementName = xElement.Name.LocalName;
foreach (XAttribute item in xElement.Attributes())
{
viewContent.attributes.Add(new ElementAttribute(item.Name.ToString(), item.Value));
}
foreach (XElement item in xElement.Elements())
{
viewContent.viewContents.Add(ParseToView(xElement)); // <-Faulty line here
}
return new ViewContent();
}
}
What I really like about JsonReader in Json.NET is that you always know the path of the current JsonReader position. For example, we have a json like this:
{
"name" :
{
"first": "John",
"last": "Smith"
}
}
If we are standing or "John" element, JsonReader.Path would be "name.first"
Is there a way to achieve something similar with XmlReader? Maybe use XPath? For example, we have a xml like this:
<root>
<name>
<first>John/<first>
<last>Smith</last>
</name>
</root>
I want to get "/root/name/first" while standing on "John" and "/root/name/last" while standing on "Smith"
It seems like there is no way to do this using standard .NET functionality, so I came up with my own class.
internal sealed class XmlReaderWrapperWithPath : IDisposable
{
private const string DefaultPathSeparator = ".";
private readonly Stack<string> _previousNames = new Stack<string>();
private readonly XmlReader _reader;
private readonly bool _ownsReader;
public XmlReaderWrapperWithPath(XmlReader reader, bool ownsReader)
{
if (reader == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("reader");
}
_ownsReader = ownsReader;
_reader = reader;
PathSeparator = DefaultPathSeparator;
}
public bool Read()
{
var lastDepth = Depth;
var lastName = Name;
if (!_reader.Read())
{
return false;
}
if (Depth > lastDepth)
{
_previousNames.Push(lastName);
}
else if (Depth < lastDepth)
{
_previousNames.Pop();
}
return true;
}
public string Name
{
get
{
return _reader.Name;
}
}
public string Value
{
get
{
return _reader.Value;
}
}
private int Depth
{
get
{
return _reader.Depth;
}
}
public string Path
{
get
{
return string.Join(PathSeparator, _previousNames.Reverse());
}
}
public string PathSeparator { get; set; }
#region IDisposable
public void Dispose()
{
if (_ownsReader)
{
_reader.Dispose();
}
}
#endregion
}
Note that this class does not form XPath (so no paths for attributes), but this was enough for my needs. Hope this helps someone.
I use XmlDocument and the XmlNode class to work with xml Data.
While standing on a Node is in this case you have the XmlNode in this case x. There is no such methode to get the path to the node. But this code do it.
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml("<root>" +
"<name>" +
"<first>John</first>" +
"<last>Smith</last>" +
"</name>" +
"</root>");
XmlNodeList liste = doc.FirstChild.SelectNodes("*/first");
XmlNode x = liste[0]; //Some Node
string path = "";
while (!x.Name.Equals("document"))
{
path = x.Name + "\\" + path;
x = x.ParentNode;
}
I have a class that various different XML schemes are created from. I create the various dynamic XDocuments via one (Very long) statement using conditional operators for optional elements and attributes.
I now need to convert the XDocuments back to the class but as they are coming from different schemes many elements and sub elements may be optional. The only way I know of doing this is to use a lot of if statements.
This approach doesn't seem very LINQ and uses a great deal more code than when I create the XDocument so I wondered if there is a better way to do this?
An example would be to get
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root xmlns="somenamespace">
<object attribute1="This is Optional" attribute2="This is required">
<element1>Required</element1>
<element1>Optional</element1>
<List1>
Optional List Of Elements
</List1>
<List2>
Required List Of Elements
</List2>
</object>
</root>
Into
public class Object()
{
public string Attribute1;
public string Attribute2;
public string Element1;
public string Element2;
public List<ListItem1> List1;
public List<ListItem2> List2;
}
In a more LINQ friendly way than this:
public bool ParseXDocument(string xml)
{
XNamespace xn = "somenamespace";
XDocument document = XDocument.Parse(xml);
XElement elementRoot = description.Element(xn + "root");
if (elementRoot != null)
{
//Get Object Element
XElement elementObject = elementRoot.Element(xn + "object");
if(elementObject != null)
{
if(elementObject.Attribute(xn + "attribute1") != null)
{
Attribute1 = elementObject.Attribute(xn + "attribute1");
}
if(elementObject.Attribute(xn + "attribute2") != null)
{
Attribute2 = elementObject.Attribute(xn + "attribute2");
}
else
{
//This is a required Attribute so return false
return false;
}
//If, If/Elses get deeper and deeper for the next elements and lists etc....
}
else
{
//Object is a required element so return false
return false;
}
}
else
{
//Root is a required element so return false
return false;
}
return true;
}
Update: Just to clarify the ParseXDocument method is inside the "Object" class. Every time an xml document is received the Object class instance has some or all of it's values updated.
Have a look at XElement and XAttribute Type Conversions.
The document root is always non-null.
Validate the object afterwards, so you don't have to implement validation twice (once when parsing and once before saving).
Code:
private static readonly XNamespace xn = "somenamespace";
public bool ParseXDocument(string xml)
{
XDocument document = XDocument.Parse(xml);
var obj = document.Root.Element(xn + "object");
if (obj == null)
return false;
Attribute1 = (string)obj.Attribute("attribute1");
Attribute2 = (string)obj.Attribute("attribute2");
Element1 = (string)obj.Element(xn + "element1");
Element2 = (string)obj.Elements(xn + "element1").ElementAtOrDefault(1);
// ...
return Validate();
}
Below I have a couple of extension methods you can use that may help reach your desired readability. The code in it's current form does not support returning true/false depending on if all the required elements were found. I recommend adopting dtb's advice in that regard, and just parse out the details, and then perform validation on that.
There are downsides, such as repeated iteration over the XML sturcture, but with a bit of imagination I'm sure you could overcome that if it becomes an issue.
Here is what MyObject looks like:
public class MyObject
{
public string Attribute1;
public string Attribute2;
public string Element1;
public string Element2;
public List List1;
public List List2;
public void ParseXDocument(string xml)
{
XNamespace xn = "somenamespace";
XDocument document = XDocument.Parse(xml);
XElement elementRoot = document.Root;
elementRoot.MatchElement(xn.GetName("object"), xObject => {
xObject.MatchAttribute("attribute1", (x,a) => this.Attribute1 = (string)a);
xObject.MatchAttribute("attribute2", (x,a) => this.Attribute2 = (string)a);
xObject.MatchElement(xn.GetName("element1"), x => this.Element1 = (string)x);
xObject.MatchElement(xn.GetName("element2"), x => this.Element2 = (string)x);
});
}
}
Here are the extension methods that support it:
public static class XElementExtensions {
public static XElement MatchAttribute(this XElement x, XName name, Action<XElement, XAttribute> action) {
foreach (var a in x.Attributes(name)) {
action(x, a);
}
return x;
}
public static XElement MatchElement(this XElement x, XName name, Action<XElement> action) {
foreach (var child in x.Elements(name)) {
action(child);
}
return x;
}
}
And finally, here is some sample driver code I used in LinqPad to test it out:
void Main()
{
var xml = #"<?xml version=""1.0""?>
<root xmlns=""somenamespace"">
<object attribute1=""This is Optional"" attribute2=""This is required"">
<element1>Required</element1>
<element2>Optional</element2>
<List1>
Optional List Of Elements
</List1>
<List2>
Required List Of Elements
</List2>
</object>
</root>
";
var o = new MyObject();
o.ParseXDocument(xml);
o.Dump();
}
I have a small part of a xml file named "fragment.xml" which is shown below where each "SteamStuff" has their own "AttributeValue" value .So here if i click a copy button, i need to create small xml file contains only the datas of SteamStuff named "pirate".For this i have created windows form containing two buttons named "Copy" and "Paste".If i click "Copy" button it should find "fragment.xml" where it is located in my PC and need to find the managed object named "pirate" (<Text>pirate</Text>) once it finds there will be a guid <ID>b6792ed8-680b-4117-a695-9f7ef2c7752b</ID> assosiated with it ,so whereever this ID appears it should select and datas and create small xml file named "test.xml" on the same location of "fragment.xml" . So test.xml contains only datas of "pirate"
What code i can implement here in button1_Click() event
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<LeafDataSchema xmlns="http://tempuri.org/LeafDataSchema.xsd">
<SteamStuff>
<ID>b6792ed8-680b-4117-a695-9f7ef2c7752b</ID>
<Label>pirate</Label>
<Owner>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</Owner>
<Image>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</Image>
<ClassID>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000008</ClassID>
<DefaultApp>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</DefaultApp>
<Name>pirate</Name>
<Volatile>true</Volatile>
</SteamStuff>
<AttributeValue>
<ID>2977f4e0-84ab-4ad2-8c4d-6bcb49727889</ID>
<ObjectID>b6792ed8-680b-4117-a695-9f7ef2c7752b</ObjectID>
<Text>True</Text>
<AttributeName>Monitor</AttributeName>
<ClassID>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000008</ClassID>
</AttributeValue>
-------------
Using these xml extensions: http://searisen.com/xmllib/extensions.wiki
Creating classes, because it makes it easier to see how it works:
public class XFile
{
XElement self;
public XFile(string file)
{
self = XElement.Load(file);
}
public XNamespace Namespace
{
get { return _Namespace ?? (_Namespace = self.GetDefaultNamespace()); }
}
XNamespace _Namespace;
public AttributeValue[] AttributeValues
{
get
{
return _AttributeValues ??
(_AttributeValues = self.GetEnumerable("AttributeValue", x => new AttributeValue(this, x)).ToArray());
}
}
AttributeValue[] _AttributeValues;
public SteamStuff[] SteamStuffs
{
get
{
return _SteamStuffs ??
(_SteamStuffs = self.GetEnumerable("SteamStuff", x => new SteamStuff(this, x)).ToArray());
}
}
SteamStuff[] _SteamStuffs;
}
public class SteamStuff
{
XElement self;
XFile parent;
public SteamStuff(XFile parent, XElement self)
{
this.parent = parent;
this.self = self;
}
public XElement Element { get { return self; } }
public string ID
{
get { return self.Get("ID", string.Empty); }
}
public string Label
{
get { return self.Get("Label", string.Empty); }
}
}
public class AttributeValue
{
XElement self;
XFile parent;
public AttributeValue(XFile parent, XElement self)
{
this.parent = parent;
this.self = self;
}
public XElement Element { get { return self; } }
public string ObjectID
{
get { return self.Get("ObjectID", string.Empty); }
}
}
XFile xfile = new XFile("test.xml");
SteamStuff[] pirates = xfile.SteamStuffs
.Where(steam => steam.Label == "pirate")
.ToArray();
AttributeValue[] associated = xfile.AttributeValues
.Where(av => pirates.Any(pirate => pirate.ID == av.ObjectID))
.ToArray();
// write to new file
XElement fragments = new XElement(xfile.Namespace + "fragments");
foreach(SteamStuff steamStuff in pirates)
fragments.Add(steamStuff.Element);
foreach(AttributeValue value in associated)
fragments.Add(value.Element);
fragments.Save("fragment_file.xml");
Edit: Extensions file adjusts for the 'default' namespace.