Serializing and Deserializing Object as XML Data Using XmlSerializer

In this article we are going to see how to serialize and deserialize an object as XML data.

Serialization - Converts Object to XML
Deserialization - Converts XML to Object

Step 1: Namespaces used:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

Step 2: List used for demo:

public List<Product> GetProductList()
{
    List<Product> list = new List<Product>(); 
    Product product = new Product(new Section[3]);
    product.Sections[0] = new Section("1", new Header[3]);
    product.Sections[0].Headers[0] = new Header("P1", "C1", "T1");
    product.Sections[0].Headers[1] = new Header("P2", "C2", "T2");
 
    product.Sections[1] = new Section("2", new Header[3]);
    product.Sections[1].Headers[0] = new Header("P1", "C1", "T1");
    product.Sections[1].Headers[1] = new Header("P2", "C2", "T2");
    list.Add(product);
    return list;
}

Step 3: Serializing the List<T> to XML:

//serialize
private void Serialize()
{
    //Creating Custom List
    List<Product> list = GetProductList(); 
    //Creating XmlSerializer.
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Product>));
    //Creating text writer for xml data
    TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(Server.MapPath("book1.xml"));
    //Convert the XML to List
    serializer.Serialize(tw, list);
    tw.Close();
}

Step 4: Output of serializing:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ArrayOfProduct xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <Product>
    <Sections>
      <Section Name="1">
        <Headers>
          <Header PropertyName="P1" ClassName="C1">T1</Header>
          <Header PropertyName="P2" ClassName="C2">T2</Header>
          <Header xsi:nil="true" />
        </Headers>
      </Section>
      <Section Name="2">
        <Headers>
          <Header PropertyName="P1" ClassName="C1">T1</Header>
          <Header PropertyName="P2" ClassName="C2">T2</Header>
          <Header xsi:nil="true" />
        </Headers>
      </Section>
      <Section xsi:nil="true" />
    </Sections>
  </Product>
</ArrayOfProduct>

Step 5: Deserializing the XML to List<T>:

public void DeSerialize()
{
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Product>));
    TextReader tr = new StreamReader(Server.MapPath("book1.xml"));

    List<Product> b = (List<Product>)serializer.Deserialize(tr);

    tr.Close(); 
    Foreach (Product product in b)
    {
        Response.Write(product.Sections[0].Name + ",");
        Response.Write(product.Sections[1].Name);
    }
}

Step 6: The List has no collection:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ArrayOfProduct xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <Product />
</ArrayOfProduct>

Step 7: Copy and Paste code snippet:

using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
 
namespace SampleApplication
{
    public partial class SerializeMe : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        { 
            Serialize();
            DeSerialize();
        }
 
        //serialize
        private void Serialize()
        {
            //Creating Custom List
            List<Product> list = GetProductList();

            //Creating XmlSerializer.
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Product>));

            //Creating text writer for xml data
            TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(Server.MapPath("book1.xml"));

            //Convert the XML to List
            serializer.Serialize(tw, list);
            tw.Close();
        }
        //Deserialize
        public void DeSerialize()
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Product>));
            TextReader tr = new StreamReader(Server.MapPath("book1.xml"));
            List<Product> b = (List<Product>)serializer.Deserialize(tr);
            tr.Close();
 
            foreach (Product product in b)
            {
                Response.Write(product.Sections[0].Name + ",");
                Response.Write(product.Sections[1].Name);
            }
        } 
        public List<Product> GetProductList()
        {
            List<Product> list = new List<Product>();
 
            Product product = new Product(new Section[3]);
            product.Sections[0] = new Section("1", new Header[3]);
            product.Sections[0].Headers[0] = new Header("P1", "C1", "T1");

            product.Sections[0].Headers[1] = new Header("P2", "C2", "T2"); 
            product.Sections[1] = new Section("2", new Header[3]);
            product.Sections[1].Headers[0] = new Header("P1", "C1", "T1");
            product.Sections[1].Headers[1] = new Header("P2", "C2", "T2");
 
            list.Add(product);
            return list;
        }
    }
    public class Product
    {
        public Product()
        {
        }
        public Product(Section[] sections)
        {
            this.Sections = sections;
        } 
        public Section[] Sections;
    }
 
    public class Section
    {
        public Section()
        {
        } 
        public Section(string name, Header[] headers)
        {
            this.Name = name;
            this.Headers = headers;
        } 
        [XmlAttribute]
        public string Name;
        public Header[] Headers;
    } 
    public class Header
    {
        public Header()
        {
        }
        public Header(string propertyName, string className, string text)
        {
            this.PropertyName = propertyName;
            this.ClassName = className;
            this.Text = text;
        } 
        [XmlAttribute]
        public string PropertyName;
 
        [XmlAttribute]
        public string ClassName;
 
        [XmlText]
        public string Text;
    }
}

Thanks for reading this article. Have a nice day.