In this article I would like to demonstrate a generic XML Serialization/Deserialization process.
There are many situations where we need to convert class objects to XML and XML to class objects in real-time projects.
For the demonstration I have two classes named Employee and Address.
Employee
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace CustomSerilization
{
public class Employee
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Profession { get; set; }
}
}
Address
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace CustomSerilization
{
public class Address
{
public int HouseNo { get; set; }
public string StreetName { get; set; }
public string City { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}
}
I have created a generic Serialization/Deserilization class that performs the main activities as in the following:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.IO;
namespace CustomSerilization
{
public class SerializeDeserialize<T>
{
StringBuilder sbData;
StringWriter swWriter;
XmlDocument xDoc;
XmlNodeReader xNodeReader;
XmlSerializer xmlSerializer;
public SerializeDeserialize()
{
sbData = new StringBuilder();
}
public string SerializeData(T data)
{
XmlSerializer employeeSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
swWriter = new StringWriter(sbData);
employeeSerializer.Serialize(swWriter, data);
return sbData.ToString();
}
public T DeserializeData(string dataXML)
{
xDoc = new XmlDocument();
xDoc.LoadXml(dataXML);
xNodeReader = new XmlNodeReader(xDoc.DocumentElement);
xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
var employeeData = xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xNodeReader);
T deserializedEmployee = (T)employeeData;
return deserializedEmployee;
}
}
}
The SerializeDeserialize class is a generic class that accepts any input.
Main Class
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using CustomSerilization;
namespace GenericSerialization
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Employee Serialization/Deserialization
Console.WriteLine("Generic Serialization/Deserialization");
Console.WriteLine("-----Serialized Employee Data-----");
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
SerializeDeserialize<Employee> serializeEmployee;
Employee employee = new Employee { ID = 1001, Name = "Praveen Raveendran", Profession = "IT Services" };
serializeEmployee = new SerializeDeserialize<Employee>();
string serializedEmployee=serializeEmployee.SerializeData(employee);
Console.WriteLine("Serialized Employee Data : ");
Console.WriteLine(serializedEmployee);
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("-----Deserialized Employee Data-----");
Employee deserialiedEmployee = serializeEmployee.DeserializeData(serializedEmployee);
Console.WriteLine("Employee ID : {0} , Name :{1} ,Profession : {2}", deserialiedEmployee.ID, deserialiedEmployee.Name, deserialiedEmployee.Profession);
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
//Address Serialization/Deserialization
Console.WriteLine("-----Serialized Address Data-----");
SerializeDeserialize<Address> serilaizeAddress;
Address address = new Address { HouseNo = 8911, StreetName = "Technopark", City = "Trivandrum", Country = "India" };
serilaizeAddress = new SerializeDeserialize<Address>();
string serailizedAddress = serilaizeAddress.SerializeData(address);
Console.WriteLine("Serialized Address Data : ");
Console.WriteLine(serailizedAddress);
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("-----Deserialized Address Data-----");
Address deserialiedAddress = serilaizeAddress.DeserializeData(serailizedAddress);
Console.WriteLine("House No :{0} , Street :{1} ,City : {2} ,Country: {3}", deserialiedAddress.HouseNo, deserialiedAddress.StreetName, deserialiedAddress.City, deserialiedAddress.Country);
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
By using this generic class it is possible to perform generic XML serialization/deserialization.
Output