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C Serialize List to XML File: Best Practices and Tips



Here, we create an XMLSerializer object that will serialize objects of type Patient. The Serialize() method transforms the object into XML. It also uses a StreamWriter object to write the XML into a file.




c serialize list to xml file



There are some important details about XML serialization in C# that we should be aware of. First of all, every class that we want to serialize should define the default (parameterless) constructor. In our case, we have not defined any constructors. Therefore, the parameterless constructor is included by default.


We can influence the serialization of an object with the use of C# Attributes. In this way, we can serialize an object property as an XML attribute (instead of an XML element). Moreover, we can select a different name for an element tag. We can also prevent a property from appearing in the resulting XML.


In this post, we have seen how to perform XML serialization in C#. More specifically, we have learned to serialize simple and complex objects, as well as arrays and lists of objects. Finally, we have learned how to alter the structure of the resulting XML file with the use of attributes.


where are all of the Bars in the Barlist are written out with all of their properties. I'm fairly sure that I'll need some markup on the class definition to make it work, but I can't seem to find the right combination.


I'm not sure if the fact I'm using Automatic Properties should have any effect, or if the use of generics requires any special treatment. I've gotten this to work with simpler types like a list of strings, but a list of classes so far eludes me.


This is just for testing though, so didn't feel the details were too important. The key is I have one or more different objects, all of which are serializable. I want to serialize them all to one file. I thought the easiest way to do that would be to put them in a generic list and serialize the list in one go. But this doesn't work.


When you serialize a collection of a type, but will actually be serializing a collection of instances of derived types, you need to let the serializer know which types you will actually be serializing. This is also true for collections of object.


While you could use a serializer - and many times this is the right answer - I personally would use Linq to XML which would allow you to be more flexible on how your XML should look like, i.e. to create the following XML from a collection foos based on your class:


XML serialization can take more than one form, from simple to complex. For example, you can serialize a class that simply consists of public fields and properties, as shown in Introducing XML Serialization. The following code examples address various advanced scenarios, including how to use XML serialization to generate an XML stream that conforms to a specific XML Schema (XSD) document.


When a class implements the ICollection interface, only the collection contained by the class is serialized. Any public properties or fields added to the class won't be serialized. To be serialized, the class must include an Add method and an Item property (C# indexer).


You can cut and paste the following example code into a text file and rename it with a .cs or .vb file name extension. Use the C# or Visual Basic compiler to compile the file. Then run it using the name of the executable.


This example uses a simple scenario to demonstrate how an instance of an object is created and serialized into a file stream using the Serialize method. The XML stream is saved to a file. The same file is then read and reconstructed into a copy of the original object using the Deserialize method.


In this example, a class named PurchaseOrder is serialized and then deserialized. A second class named Address is also included because the public field named ShipTo must be set to an Address. Similarly, an OrderedItem class is included because an array of OrderedItem objects must be set to the OrderedItems field. Finally, a class named Test contains the code that serializes and deserializes the classes.


The CreatePO method creates the PurchaseOrder, Address, and OrderedItem class objects and sets the public field values. The method also constructs an instance of the XmlSerializer class that's used to serialize and deserialize the PurchaseOrder.


The ReadPo method is a little simpler. It just creates objects to deserialize and reads out their values. As with the CreatePo method, you must first construct an XmlSerializer, passing the type of class to be deserialized to the constructor. Also, a FileStream is required to read the XML document. To deserialize the objects, call the Deserialize method with the FileStream as an argument. The deserialized object must be cast to an object variable of type PurchaseOrder. The code then reads the values of the deserialized PurchaseOrder.


This example creates a new file, if the file does not already exist. If an application needs to create a file, that application needs Create access for the folder. If the file already exists, the application needs only Write access, a lesser privilege. Where possible, it is more secure to create the file during deployment, and only grant Read access to a single file, rather than Create access for a folder.


Sometimes a developer would need to serialize a collection of objects such as a List or an ArrayList. In this article I am going to show you how to serialize a List of Employee objects to an XML file.


The XmlRoot attribute allows you to set information for the root XML node which will be created in the serialized file. Such information includes the namespace, the element name, the data type, etc, but for our example we will only be using the ElementName, and we are setting it to CompanyEmployees.


Next we are setting the XmlArray attribute which tells the serializer that it must serialize a particular class member as an array of XML elements. We are assigning the ElementName to EmployeeListing.


As can be seen in the above code, we are creating three instances of the Employee class and adding them to an instance of the EmployeeList class. We are then serializing the employeeList object and we end up with an XML file looking like this:


The below screenshot is displaying the Visual Studio Locals window and you can see the employeeList object after the deserialization process which confirms that the XML file was deserialized correctly.


The article talks about serialization of objects in XML format and deserialization of an XML file back to an object. Serialization is a process by which an object's state is transformed in some serial data format, such as XML or binary format. Deserialization, on the other hand, is used to convert the byte of data, such as XML or binary data, to object type. Serialization is the process of converting an object into a form that can be readily transported. For example, you can serialize an object and transport it over the Internet using HTTP between a client and a server. On the other end, deserialization reconstructs the object from the stream. XML serialization results in strongly typed classes with public properties and fields that are converted to a serial format (in this case, XML) for storage or transport.


XmlSerializer (located in the System.Xml.Serialization namespace) class is used to serialize and deserialize. The class method Serialize is called. Since we have to serialize in a file, we create a "TextWriter". Since TextWriter implements IDisposable, we used using so that we need not close the writer.


[XmlElement("Number")] specifies that the property HouseNo will be serialized with the Tag name "Number" in the XML File. It helps us to map between the XML Tag name and the class Property Name. The resultant XML string with the Custom tag name is given below:


If we want that the property HouseNo should occur as the attribute for the Tag AddressDetails, then we should use XmlAttribute. XmlAttribute serializes the object property as the attribute for the parent tag. The following code illustrates the functionality:


By default, all public fields and public read/write properties are serialized by the XmlSerializer. That is, the value of each public field or property is persisted as an XML element or XML attribute in an XML-document instance. In order to override this property, apply XmlIgnore attribute to it. This will remove the element from the XML. The code below explains the following:


Every XML has a root element. By default, the name of the root element is the same as the name of the class that is serialized. In order to give a custom name to the root element of XML, we use XmlRoot attribute. Implementation of this attribute is provided below:


Serialization converts Objective-C types to and from an architecture-independent byte stream. In contrast to archiving, basic serialization does not record the data type of the values nor the relationships between them; only the values themselves are recorded. It is your responsibility to deserialize the data in the proper order.


Serialization also does not track the presence of objects referenced multiple times. Each reference to an object within the property list is serialized separately, resulting in multiple instances when deserialized.


Row number(s) to use as the column names, and the start of thedata. Default behavior is to infer the column names: if no names arepassed the behavior is identical to header=0 and column namesare inferred from the first line of the file, if column names arepassed explicitly then the behavior is identical toheader=None. Explicitly pass header=0 to be able to replaceexisting names.


The header can be a list of ints that specify row locationsfor a MultiIndex on the columns e.g. [0,1,3]. Intervening rowsthat are not specified will be skipped (e.g. 2 in this example isskipped). Note that this parameter ignores commented lines and emptylines if skip_blank_lines=True, so header=0 denotes the firstline of data rather than the first line of the file. 2ff7e9595c


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