Question

I have a XML file, with a structure like

<items>
  <item>
    <someDetail>
      A value here
     </someDetail>
  </item>
  <item>
    <someDetail>
      Another value here
     </someDetail>
  </item>
</items>

With multiple items in it.

I want to deserialize the XML on session start ideally, to turn the XML data to objects based on a class (c# asp.net 4)

I have tried several ways with either no success, or a solution which seems clunky and inelegant.

What would people suggest?

I have tried using the xsd.exe tool, and have tried with the xml reader class, as well as usin XElement class to loop through the xml and then create new someObject(props).

These maybe the best and/or only way, but with it being so easy for database sources using the entities framework, I wondered if there was a similar way to do the same but from a xml source.

Answer 1

The best way to deserialize XML it to create a class that corresponds to the XML structure into which the XML data will deserialize.

The latest serialization technology uses Data Contracts and the DataContractSerializer.

You decorate the class I mentioned above with DataMember and DataItem attributes and user the serializer to deserialize.