DeSerializing Not Working!!!!

[mmx_nexus]

Hi,

In the below mentioned code,I'm trying to deserialize the given XML into an object graph of type Message.Find the code below...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
namespace TestXML
{
  public class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string xml = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><Message><Books><Book><Author>Jack</Author><State>CA</State><Code><ISBN>1111-2222</ISBN><Price>35</Price></Code></Book></Books><Books>	<Book><Author>Daniel</Author><State>IL</State><Code><ISBN>3333-5555</ISBN><Price>23</Price></Code></Book></Books></Message>";

            XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Message));

            using (System.IO.StringReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(xml))
            {
                Message msg = ser.Deserialize(reader) as Message;

            }

        }

        [Serializable()]
        public class Message
        {
            public Message()
            {

            }
           
            public Books[] Books;
        }

        [Serializable()]
        public class Books
        {
            public Books()
            {

            }

            public Book Book;
        }

        [Serializable()]
        public class Book
        {
            public Book()
            {

            }

            public Code Code;

        }

        [Serializable()]
        public class Code
        {
            public Code()
            {

            }
        }
    }
}

But after deserializing,the msg instance is not having any collection of Books....It just shows 0 dimension of books.Why is it happening so...??

[boudino]

Try this:

[Serializable()]
		public class Message
		{
			public Message()
			{

			}
           
			[XmlArray("Books")]
			[XmlArrayItem(typeof(Book))]
			public Book[] Books;
		}

		[Serializable()]
		public class Book
		{
			public Book()
			{

			}

			[XmlElement]
			public string Author;

			[XmlElement]
			public Code Code;
		}

		[Serializable()]
		public class Code
		{
			public Code()
			{

			}

			[XmlElement("ISBN")]
			public string isbn;

			[XmlElement("Price")]
			public string price;
		}

Important points: Books class is wiped out; look at the way in which can be name of xml element defined different from code element (Code class).

[mmx_nexus]

Thanks for the quick response...

I see that you have refactored Books...absolutely no issues with it...But if you look at the XML...there is 2 nodes for Books...

Now...If i deserialize using the code which you have mentioned...only one <Books> is present...or in other words...I'm losing JACK...only DANIELS is deserialized...or after deserializing the length of books is 1 wherin it should be 2...

Any thoughts/suggestions/solutions on this....???

[trenches]

Have you tried just serializing/deserializing the object(s) instead of mapping/unmapping them to XML. That, however, may not be an option, if serializer and deserializer both don't have access to the library supporting the Books class, but if they do, you could save yourself a lot of trouble. Here's a sample you could look into.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap;
namespace TestXML
{
    public class Program
    {
        private const string DATA_FILE = @"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\message.xml";
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // serialize books
            Books books = new Books();
            books.Add(new Book("Jack", "CA", new Code("1111-2222", 35.0)));
            books.Add(new Book("Daniel", "IL", new Code("3333-5555", 23.0)));
            new Program().SerializeMessage(books);

            // deserialize the books message
            Books deserializedBooks = new Program().DeseralizeMessage();
        }
        private void SerializeMessage(Books message)
        {
            using (Stream stream = File.Open(DATA_FILE, FileMode.Create))
            {
                SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();
                formatter.Serialize(stream, message);
                stream.Close();
            }
        }
        private Books DeseralizeMessage()
        {
            Books message = null;
            using (Stream stream = File.Open(DATA_FILE, FileMode.Open))
            {
                SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();
                message = (Books)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
                stream.Close();
            }
            return message;
        }
    }
    [Serializable()]
    internal sealed class Books : List<Book> { }
    [Serializable()]
    internal sealed class Book
    {
        private string _author;
        private string _state;
        private Code _code;
        public Book(string author, string state, Code code)
        {
            _author = author;
            _state = state;
            _code = code;
        }
    }
    [Serializable()]
    internal sealed class Code
    {
        private string _isbn;
        private double _price;
        public Code(string isbn, double price)
        {
            _isbn = isbn;
            _price = price;
        }
    }
}

For this to work, you would have to add the .Net refence, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.dll and you could add the necessary properties to Book and Code classes as you see fit and change their access modifiers as necessary.

[Thread1]

Thanks for the quick response...

I see that you have refactored Books...absolutely no issues with it...But if you look at the XML...there is 2 nodes for Books...

Now...If i deserialize using the code which you have mentioned...only one <Books> is present...or in other words...I'm losing JACK...only DANIELS is deserialized...or after deserializing the length of books is 1 wherin it should be 2...

Any thoughts/suggestions/solutions on this....???

try to use list/collection instead of array on the Books property.

[Serializable()]
		public class Message
		{
			public Message()
			{

			}
                         public List<Book> Books;
           
			/*[XmlArray("Books")]
			[XmlArrayItem(typeof(Book))]
			public Book[] Books;*/
		}

		[Serializable()]
		public class Book
		{
			public Book()
			{

			}

			[XmlElement]
			public string Author;

			[XmlElement]
			public Code Code;
		}

		[Serializable()]
		public class Code
		{
			public Code()
			{

			}

			[XmlElement("ISBN")]
			public string isbn;

			[XmlElement("Price")]
			public string price;
		}

[mmx_nexus]

Guys,

The solution of using a generic List works like a charm!!!Thanks for saving my day...

But,still the original question remains...why is that only Daniels is getting picked up when the array of books is supposed to have both.Is it a problem with Arrays..???

Mmx

[trenches]

Make sure you cover the full index range of the array, 0 through length-1