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How can we have dynamic xml element name in C# class file?

This is my current XML Response tag
<Response_Data_1234 diffgr:id="Response_Data_1234" msdata:rowOrder="0" diffgr:hasChanges="inserted">
<Status>File received.</Status>
<Time>2022-01-25T09:44:15.73+08:00</Time>
<Location>HKG</Location>
</Response_Data_1234>
the number 1234 in <Response_Data_1234> is a Response Data id, which will be dynamic depending on the request.
Could someone please me create a C# class in this scenario so that I can map the response directly to the class. Thanks in advance

Actually you should not have any unique identifier attached to XML element name. It should be added as attribute.
To answer your question:
There is no direct class attribute to ignore class name while deserialisation of xml string to object.
Option1 (better): Create mapper extension method for XNode to class attribute mapping and reuse it.
Option2:
If your xml string is small you can try to update name of root element and use it to deserialise.
sample code:
var responseDataXDoc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
responseDataXDoc.Root.Name = "ResponseData";
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ResponseData));
var responseData = serializer.Deserialize(new StringReader(responseDataXDoc.ToString(SaveOptions.DisableFormatting)));

With Cinchoo ETL - an open source library, you can deserialize such xml easily as below
using (var r = ChoXmlReader<ResponseData>.LoadText(xml)
.WithXPath("//")
.WithXmlNamespace("diffgr", "")
.WithXmlNamespace("msdata", "")
)
{
var rec = r.FirstOrDefault();
rec.Print();
}
public class ResponseData
{
public string Status { get; set; }
public DateTime Time { get; set; }
public string Location { get; set; }
}
Sample fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/HOOPOg

Deserialization of XML

Trying to deserialize a XML log file. And cannot seem to get anything but Error in XML Document(0,0). I am guessing it has something to do with my class but I cannot seem to find a solution. I cannot change the XML formatting as this is a log file coming from a server (just simplified)
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<POSLog>
<Transaction>
<RetailStoreID>1</RetailStoreID>
<SequenceNumber>2</SequenceNumber>
</Transaction>
<Transaction>
<RetailStoreID>1</RetailStoreID>
<SequenceNumber>3</SequenceNumber>
</Transaction>
</POSLog>
Class
[Serializable()]
public class Transaction
{
[XmlElement("RetailStoreID")]
public string RetailStoreID { get; set; }
[XmlElement("SequenceNumber")]
public string SequenceNumber { get; set; }
}
[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
[XmlArray("POSLog")]
[XmlArrayItem("Transaction", typeof(Transaction))]
public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}
Deserialize code
POSLog poslog = new POSLog();
string path = "POSLog.xml";
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(POSLog));
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
Found fix by switching from StreamReader to FileStream along with changes to the class. Changing encoding didn't seem to help when using the StreamReader.

I cannot reproduce the problem you are seeing. However, there is an issue with the POSLog class -- it needs to be defined as follows:
[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
[XmlElement("Transaction")]
public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}
Your XML has a root element <POSLog> containing a repeating sequence of <Transaction> elements. [XmlElement("Transaction")] maps the array to just such a one-level repeating sequence.
Example fiddle.

Changing the Class to the follow above answer
[Serializable()]
[XmlRoot("POSLog")]
public class POSLog
{
[XmlElement("Transaction")]
public Transaction[] Transaction { get; set; }
}
Along with Changing the following StreamReader lines
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
To this:
FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open);
poslog = (POSLog)serializer.Deserialize(fs);
Fixed the issue I was having with the root element and I was able to deserialize the XML. Thanks to dbc for help in getting me started solving a solution for the first time in a forum!

XML Element Selection

I am collecting XML data from a weather website xml file here.
I have created the following code, which finds the first instance of 'temp_c' and returns the value. This is the temperature at the current moment.
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(weather)))
{
while (reader.Read())
{
switch (reader.NodeType)
{
case XmlNodeType.Element:
if (reader.Name.Equals("temp_c"))
{
reader.Read();
temp_c = reader.Value;
}
break;
}
}
}
return temp_c
This returns the value of the first instance in the XML file called "temp_c" to the string called "temp_c"
What I would now like to do is use the Element in the XML document called "period" and the element found with period called "fcttext". When "period = 0" it means "today", 1 = tomorrow, etc; and I am after the "fcttext_metric" data that is associated with that period value.
I've been struggling to work the examples and XML reading codes I've found into the current code that I have here. Can anyone please point me in the right direction?
Edit
Here is an example of the XML file:
<forecast>
<forecastday>
<period>0</period>
<fcttext_metric>Sunny</fcttext_metric>
<forecastday>
<period>1</period>
<fcttext_metric>Cloudy</fcttext_metric>

This ended up being more annoying that I originally expected, but you can create an object graph from the XML using a DataContractSerializer and a set of classes that match the XML you are reading.
First, you create your classes, with appropriate DataContract attributes.
[DataContract(Name = "response", Namespace = "")]
public class WeatherData
{
[DataMember(Name = "forecast")]
public Forecast Forecast { get; set; }
}
[DataContract(Name = "forecast", Namespace = "")]
public class Forecast
{
[DataMember(Name = "txt_forecast")]
public TxtForecast TxtForecast { get; set; }
}
[DataContract(Name = "txt_forecast", Namespace = "")]
public class TxtForecast
{
[DataMember(Name = "forecastdays")]
public ForecastDay[] ForecastDays { get; set; }
}
[DataContract(Name = "forecastday", Namespace = "")]
public class ForecastDay
{
[DataMember(Name = "period", Order = 1)]
public int Period { get; set; }
public string FctText { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "fcttext", EmitDefaultValue = false, Order = 5)]
private CDataWrapper FctTextWrapper
{
get { return FctText; }
set { FctText = value; }
}
}
Heres where it got complicated. The fcttext element is CDATA, which the DataContractSerializer doesn't support by default.
Using the wonderful answer available at Using CDATA with WCF REST starter kits, you create a CDataWrapper class. I won't repeat the code here (because that would be pointless), just follow the link.
You can see that I've already used the CDataWrapper class above in order to work with the fcttext element.
Once you've got the class structure setup you can use the following code to extract the information you were after. You're just navigating the object graph at this point, so you can use whatever C# you want (I've used a simple LINQ query to find Period 0 and print out the fcttext for it).
var s = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(WeatherData));
var reader = XmlReader.Create("http://api.wunderground.com/api/74e1025b64f874f6/forecast/conditions/q/zmw:00000.1.94787.xml");
var o = (WeatherData)s.ReadObject(reader);
var firstPeriod = o.Forecast.TxtForecast.ForecastDays.Where(a => a.Period == 0).Single();
Console.WriteLine(firstPeriod.FctText);
You can extend the classes as necessary to give you access to additional fields inside the XML. As long as the DataMember names match the XML fields it will all work.
Here's a short summary of some problems I ran into for anyone interested:
I had to set the Namespace attributes of all of the classes to the empty string, because the XML doesn't have any namespace info in it.
The Order attributes were important on the ForecastDay class. If they are omitted, the DataContractSerializer ends up not reading the fcttext field in at all (because it thinks fcttext should come first? not sure why to be honest).

How to convert XML/JSON file to C# class?

I have XML file like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<catalog>
<book id="1" date="2012-02-01">
<title>XML Developer's Guide</title>
<price>44.95</price>
<description>
An in-depth look at creating applications
with XML.
</description>
</book>
<book id="2" date="2013-10-16">
<author>Mark Colsberg</author>
<title>Dolor sit amet</title>
<price>5.95</price>
<description>Lorem ipsum</description>
</book>
</catalog>
How to quick convert it to C# classes to use access data by LINQ?
Do I have to write the class manually for any XML file case?
What about JSON format?
Is the XSD the only solution?

You have two possibilities.
Method 1. XSD tool
Suppose that you have your XML file in this location C:\path\to\xml\file.xml
Open Developer Command Prompt
You can find it in Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 > Visual Studio Tools
Or if you have Windows 8 can just start typing Developer Command Prompt in Start screen
Change location to your XML file directory by typing cd /D "C:\path\to\xml"
Create XSD file from your xml file by typing xsd file.xml
Create C# classes by typing xsd /c file.xsd
And that's it! You have generated C# classes from xml file in C:\path\to\xml\file.cs
Method 2 - Paste special
Required Visual Studio 2012+
Copy content of your XML file to clipboard
Add to your solution new, empty class file (Shift+Alt+C)
Open that file and in menu click Edit > Paste special > Paste XML As Classes
And that's it!
Usage
Usage is very simple with this helper class:
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization; // Add reference: System.Web.Extensions
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
namespace Helpers
{
internal static class ParseHelpers
{
private static JavaScriptSerializer json;
private static JavaScriptSerializer JSON { get { return json ?? (json = new JavaScriptSerializer()); } }
public static Stream ToStream(this string #this)
{
var stream = new MemoryStream();
var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
writer.Write(#this);
writer.Flush();
stream.Position = 0;
return stream;
}
public static T ParseXML<T>(this string #this) where T : class
{
var reader = XmlReader.Create(#this.Trim().ToStream(), new XmlReaderSettings() { ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Document });
return new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)).Deserialize(reader) as T;
}
public static T ParseJSON<T>(this string #this) where T : class
{
return JSON.Deserialize<T>(#this.Trim());
}
}
}
All you have to do now, is:
public class JSONRoot
{
public catalog catalog { get; set; }
}
// ...
string xml = File.ReadAllText(#"C:\path\to\xml\file.xml");
var catalog1 = xml.ParseXML<catalog>();
string json = File.ReadAllText(#"C:\path\to\json\file.json");
var catalog2 = json.ParseJSON<JSONRoot>();
Here you have some Online XML <--> JSON Converters: Click

You can follow this simple step
1.Please Add using System.Xml as a reference;
2.Make a class named book in this way
public class book
{
public Nullable<System.DateTime> date{ get; set; }
public decimal price { get; set; }
public string title { get; set; }
public string description { get; set; }
}
try
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.Load("Write down full path");
XmlNodeList dataNodes = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("/catalog");
foreach (XmlNode node in dataNodes)
{
book objbook = new book();
objbook.date=Convert.ToDateTime(node.Attributes["date"].Value);
objbook.title=node.SelectSingleNode("title").InnerText;
objbook.description=node.SelectSingleNode("description").InnerText;
objbook.price=Convert.ToDecimal(node.SelectSingleNode("price").InnerText);
}
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}

Use the XML Schema Definition Tool xsd.exe found in your framework tools to convert your schema into a serializable class or dataset.
xsd file.xsd {/classes | /dataset} [/element:element]
[/language:language] [/namespace:namespace]
[/outputdir:directory] [URI:uri]
And in example, whereas the C# class will be generated in the same directory as the xsd tool:
xsd /c YourFile.xsd

Use the super simple way using 'Paste XML As Classes' functionality in Visual studio menu.
1.copy the xml source in the clipboard, something like CTRL+A and CTRL+C
2.Go to 'Edit' Menu -> Paste Special -> Paste XML As Classes, to paste the generated classes based on the source xml"
Ref: More steps in detail at this link

Here is one another easy way to parse xml file using Cinchoo ETL, an open source library
Define POCO class as below
public class Book
{
[ChoXPath("#id")]
public int Id { get; set; }
[ChoXPath("#date")]
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
[ChoXPath("author")]
public string Author { get; set; }
[ChoXPath("title")]
public string Title { get; set; }
[ChoXPath("price")]
public double Price { get; set; }
[ChoXPath("description")]
public string Description { get; set; }
}
Use it to the parser as below
using (var r = new ChoXmlReader<Book>("*** Xml file path ***")
.WithXPath("//catalog/book", true)
)
{
foreach (var rec in r)
rec.Print();
}
Sample fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/3UI82F

How would I read into a 'nested' Json file with 'DataContractJsonSerializer' in C# .NET (win7 phone)?

I have an issue where if my json file looks like this
{ "Numbers": "45387", "Words": "space buckets"}
I can read it just fine, however if it looks like this:
{ "Main" :{ "Numbers": "45387", "Words": "space buckets"},
"Something" :{"Numbers": "12345", "Words": "Kransky"} }
I get no information back. I have no idea how to switch between Main and Something!
Loading a JSON with this 'nested' information using this code,
var ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(myInfo));
var info = (myInfo)ser.ReadObject(e.Result);
// The class being using to hold my information
[DataContract]
public class myInfo
{
[DataMember(Name="Numbers")]
public int number
{ get; set; }
[DataMember(Name="Words")]
public string words
{ get; set; }
}
Causes the class to come back empty.
I've tried adding the group name to DataContract eg. [DataContract, Name="Main"] but this still causes the classes values to be empty.
I've also tried adding "main" to the serializer overloader eg. var ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(myInfo), "Main");
This causes an error: Expecting element 'Main' from namespace ''.. Encountered 'Element' with name 'root', namespace ''.
I'd prefer to just use the supplied json reader. I have looked into json.NET but have found the documentation to be heavy on writing json and sparse with information about reading.
Surely I'm missing something simple here!

You could add a wrapper class:
[DataContract]
public class Wrapper
{
[DataMember]
public myInfo Main { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public myInfo Something { get; set; }
}
Now you could deserialize the JSON back to this wrapper class and use the two properties to access the values.