Question

I have some XML in the following format:

<ObjectData>
  <ModelName>MODEL_123</ModelName>
  <ObjectName>OBJECT_A</ObjectName>
  <Values>
    <KeyValuePair>
      <Key>NAME</Key>
      <Value>PAUL</Value>
    </KeyValuePair>
    ...
  </Values>
</ObjectData>
...

I want to deserialize this into the following class:

[XmlRoot(Namespace = "")]
public class ObjectData
{
    [XmlElement(Namespace = "")]
    public string ModelName { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Namespace = "")]
    public string ObjectName { get; set; }
    [XmlArray]
    public List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> Values { get; set; }
}

When I use this code, the KeyValuePairs are not deserialized and the Values property is empty.

List<ObjectData> data = new List<ObjectData>();
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ObjectData));

using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(inputXML)))
{             
    reader.MoveToContent();
    ObjectData temp = (ObjectData)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
    data.Add(temp);
}  

Is the KeyValuePair class not serializable in the way I use it? Or is there a problem in my ObjectData class?

Answer 1

Try specifying the element names in your attributes:

[XmlArray("Values")]
[XmlArrayItem("KeyValuePair")]
public List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> Values { get; set; }