XML Serialization and Deserialization in C# with example

This example is based on converting class objects to XML and XML to class objects. In many cases we need to achieve this.

Example

Communicating with Web service etc.

Step 1:- SerializeData Method

        public static string SerializeData(object o)

        {

            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(o.GetType());

            StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();

            XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

            try

            {

                xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlTextWriter, o);

                return stringWriter.ToString();

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                return ex.Message;

            }

            finally

            {

                stringWriter.Close();

                xmlTextWriter.Close();

            }

        }

Step 2:- DeserializeData Method

        public static object DeserializeData(string strXML, object o)

        {

            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(o.GetType());

            StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(strXML);

            XmlTextReader xmlTextReader = new XmlTextReader(stringReader);

            try

            {

                object obj = xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlTextReader);

                return obj;

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                return ex.Message;

            }

            finally

            {

                stringReader.Close();

                xmlTextReader.Close();

            }

        }

Step 3:- Complete Code

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.IO;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using System.Xml;

using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace XmlSerializeDeserialize

{

    public class MailMessage

    {

        public string From { get; set; }

        public string To { get; set; }

        public string Subject { get; set; }

        public string Body { get; set; }

    }

    class Program

    {

        public static string SerializeData(object o)

        {

            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(o.GetType());

            StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();

            XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

            try

            {

                xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlTextWriter, o);

                return stringWriter.ToString();

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                return ex.Message;

            }

            finally

            {

                stringWriter.Close();

                xmlTextWriter.Close();

            }

        }

        public static object DeserializeData(string strXML, object o)

        {

            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(o.GetType());

            StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(strXML);

            XmlTextReader xmlTextReader = new XmlTextReader(stringReader);

            try

            {

                object obj = xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlTextReader);

                return obj;

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                return ex.Message;

            }

            finally

            {

                stringReader.Close();

                xmlTextReader.Close();

            }

        }

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            MailMessage mailMessage = null;

            // Initializer member declarator

            mailMessage = new MailMessage()

            {

                From = "Ram",

                To = "Shyam",

                Subject = "Reminder",

                Body = "Don't forget me this weekend!"

            };

            string serializedMailMessage = Program.SerializeData(mailMessage);

            Console.WriteLine("__________________Serialized MailMessage Data____________________");

            Console.WriteLine(serializedMailMessage);

            // Create a new object of MailMessage

            mailMessage = new MailMessage();

            Console.WriteLine("__________________Deserialized MailMessage Data__________________");

            mailMessage = (MailMessage)Program.DeserializeData(serializedMailMessage, mailMessage);

            Console.WriteLine("From - " + mailMessage.From);

            Console.WriteLine("To - " + mailMessage.To);

            Console.WriteLine("Subject - " + mailMessage.Subject);

            Console.WriteLine("Body - " + mailMessage.Body);

            Console.ReadKey();

        }

    }

}

Step 4:- Output