Introduction

In this article, we will create an application that will get all data from XML files from a specific directory and convert it to a C# object.
To get all XML files from a specific location we can use the Directory library provided by 'System.IO'. The other namespaces are 'System.Xml.Serialization' to serialize the XML.
I have an XML file below:
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  3. <entry id="99" binderId="vg" definitionId="qwe" definitionName="asd" title="this is Title" exportVersion="3" docNumber="1" docLevel="1" href="google.com">
  4. <attribute name="_zone" type="text">abc</attribute>
  5. <signature>
  6. <creation date="2013-09-24T07:20:47">
  7. <principal id="1" name="admin" title="admin" emailAddress="[email protected]">admin</principal>
  8. </creation>
  9. <modification date="2013-09-24T07:24:29">
  10. <principal id="1" name="admin" title="admin" emailAddress="[email protected]">admin</principal>
  11. </modification>
  12. </signature>
  13. <attribute name="title" type="title">This is Title</attribute>
  14. <attribute name="description" type="description" format="1" zoneUUID="ff">This is desc.</attribute>
  15. <attribute name="attachFile" type="attachFiles">
  16. <file href="ar1.jpg" numVersions="1">ar1.jpg</file>
  17. <file href="ar2.jpg" numVersions="1">ar2.jpg</file>
  18. <file href="ar3.jpg" numVersions="1">ar3.jpg</file>
  19. <file href="ar4.jpg" numVersions="1">ar4.jpg</file>
  20. <file href="ar5.jpg" numVersions="1">ar5.jpg</file>
  21. </attribute>
  22. <workflows/>
  23. <settings>
  24. <accessControls/>
  25. </settings>
  26. </entry>
Now, we start to create a console application for transferring all data from XML files to C# objects.
Step 1 - Create a Project
After opening Visual Studio, next, we need to create an ASP.NET MVC project. For doing that, just click File - New - Project.
After choosing a project, a new dialog will pop up. In that, select Console Application and give your project the location and a name. Then, click the "Ok" button.
I create a class file like below to map all tags data to c# objects.
  1. namespace Entry
  2. {
  3. [XmlRoot(ElementName="attribute")]
  4. public class Attribute {
  5. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="name")]
  6. public string Name { get; set; }
  7. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="type")]
  8. public string Type { get; set; }
  9. [XmlText]
  10. public string Text { get; set; }
  11. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="format")]
  12. public string Format { get; set; }
  13. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="zoneUUID")]
  14. public string ZoneUUID { get; set; }
  15. [XmlElement(ElementName="file")]
  16. public List<File> File { get; set; }
  17. }
  19. [XmlRoot(ElementName="principal")]
  20. public class Principal {
  21. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="id")]
  22. public string Id { get; set; }
  23. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="name")]
  24. public string Name { get; set; }
  25. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="title")]
  26. public string Title { get; set; }
  27. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="emailAddress")]
  28. public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
  29. [XmlText]
  30. public string Text { get; set; }
  31. }
  33. [XmlRoot(ElementName="creation")]
  34. public class Creation {
  35. [XmlElement(ElementName="principal")]
  36. public Principal Principal { get; set; }
  37. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="date")]
  38. public string Date { get; set; }
  39. }
  41. [XmlRoot(ElementName="modification")]
  42. public class Modification {
  43. [XmlElement(ElementName="principal")]
  44. public Principal Principal { get; set; }
  45. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="date")]
  46. public string Date { get; set; }
  47. }
  49. [XmlRoot(ElementName="signature")]
  50. public class Signature {
  51. [XmlElement(ElementName="creation")]
  52. public Creation Creation { get; set; }
  53. [XmlElement(ElementName="modification")]
  54. public Modification Modification { get; set; }
  55. }
  57. [XmlRoot(ElementName="file")]
  58. public class File {
  59. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="href")]
  60. public string Href { get; set; }
  61. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="numVersions")]
  62. public string NumVersions { get; set; }
  63. [XmlText]
  64. public string Text { get; set; }
  65. }
  67. [XmlRoot(ElementName="settings")]
  68. public class Settings {
  69. [XmlElement(ElementName="accessControls")]
  70. public string AccessControls { get; set; }
  71. }
  73. [XmlRoot(ElementName="entry")]
  74. public class Entry {
  75. [XmlElement(ElementName="attribute")]
  76. public List<Attribute> Attribute { get; set; }
  77. [XmlElement(ElementName="signature")]
  78. public Signature Signature { get; set; }
  79. [XmlElement(ElementName="workflows")]
  80. public string Workflows { get; set; }
  81. [XmlElement(ElementName="settings")]
  82. public Settings Settings { get; set; }
  83. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="id")]
  84. public string Id { get; set; }
  85. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="binderId")]
  86. public string BinderId { get; set; }
  87. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="definitionId")]
  88. public string DefinitionId { get; set; }
  89. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="definitionName")]
  90. public string DefinitionName { get; set; }
  91. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="title")]
  92. public string Title { get; set; }
  93. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="exportVersion")]
  94. public string ExportVersion { get; set; }
  95. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="docNumber")]
  96. public string DocNumber { get; set; }
  97. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="docLevel")]
  98. public string DocLevel { get; set; }
  99. [XmlAttribute(AttributeName="href")]
  100. public string Href { get; set; }
  101. }
  103. }
If you don't want to create all properties manually then you can use the below link to generate C# class property from XML.

https://xmltocsharp.azurewebsites.net.
Step 3 - Create Method for Convert data from XML to C# object
Copy and paste the below code into your main method.
  1. string sourceFolderPath ="D:\Kaushik\AllFiles"
  3. if (Directory.Exists(sourceFolderPath))
  4. {
  5. DirectoryInfo dirSource = new DirectoryInfo(sourceFolderPath);
  6. var allXMLFiles = dirSource.GetFiles("*.xml", SearchOption.AllDirectories).ToList();
  8. List<Entry> listAllEntries = new List<Entry>();
  10. foreach (var nextFile in allXMLFiles)
  11. {
  12. try
  13. {
  14. XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Entry));
  15. using (TextReader reader = new StringReader(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(nextFile.FullName)))
  16. {
  17. Entry result = (Entry)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
  18. listAllEntries.Add(result);
  19. }
  20. }
  21. catch (Exception ex)
  22. {
  24. }
  25. }
  26. }
Please don't forget to change the path of your XML files' directory in variable "sourceFolderPath".
In the above code:
  1. var allXMLFiles = dirSource.GetFiles("*.xml", SearchOption.AllDirectories).ToList();
Using this line we can get all XML files from a specific directory.
In this case, I get file content using "new StringReader(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(FileName))".
Using "(Entry)serializer.Deserialize(reader)" convert the specific file data to C# object according to created Entry class.
And after completing the foreach loop, you get the whole XML files data into listAllEntries object.