First question on Stackoverflow (.Net 2.0):
So I am trying to return an XML of a List with the following:
public XmlDocument GetEntityXml()
{
StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
XmlTextWriter xmlWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<T>));
List<T> parameters = GetAll();
serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, parameters);
string xmlResult = stringWriter.ToString();
xmlDoc.LoadXml(xmlResult);
return xmlDoc;
}
Now this will be used for multiple Entities I have already defined.
Say I would like to get an XML of List<Cat>
The XML would be something like:
<ArrayOfCat>
<Cat>
<Name>Tom</Name>
<Age>2</Age>
</Cat>
<Cat>
<Name>Bob</Name>
<Age>3</Age>
</Cat>
</ArrayOfCat>
Is there a way for me to get the same Root all the time when getting these Entities?
Example:
<Entity>
<Cat>
<Name>Tom</Name>
<Age>2</Age>
</Cat>
<Cat>
<Name>Bob</Name>
<Age>3</Age>
</Cat>
</Entity>
Also note that I do not intend to Deserialize the XML back to List<Cat>
There is a much easy way:
public XmlDocument GetEntityXml<T>()
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
XPathNavigator nav = xmlDoc.CreateNavigator();
using (XmlWriter writer = nav.AppendChild())
{
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<T>), new XmlRootAttribute("TheRootElementName"));
ser.Serialize(writer, parameters);
}
return xmlDoc;
}
If I understand correctly, you want the root of the document to always be the same, whatever the type of element in the collection ? In that case you can use XmlAttributeOverrides :
XmlAttributeOverrides overrides = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
XmlAttributes attr = new XmlAttributes();
attr.XmlRoot = new XmlRootAttribute("TheRootElementName");
overrides.Add(typeof(List<T>), attr);
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<T>), overrides);
List<T> parameters = GetAll();
serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, parameters);
A better way to the same thing:
public XmlDocument GetEntityXml<T>()
{
XmlAttributeOverrides overrides = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
XmlAttributes attr = new XmlAttributes();
attr.XmlRoot = new XmlRootAttribute("TheRootElementName");
overrides.Add(typeof(List<T>), attr);
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
XPathNavigator nav = xmlDoc.CreateNavigator();
using (XmlWriter writer = nav.AppendChild())
{
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<T>), overrides);
List<T> parameters = GetAll<T>();
ser.Serialize(writer, parameters);
}
return xmlDoc;
}
so simple....
public static XElement ToXML<T>(this IList<T> lstToConvert, Func<T, bool> filter, string rootName)
{
var lstConvert = (filter == null) ? lstToConvert : lstToConvert.Where(filter);
return new XElement(rootName,
(from node in lstConvert
select new XElement(typeof(T).ToString(),
from subnode in node.GetType().GetProperties()
select new XElement(subnode.Name, subnode.GetValue(node, null)))));
}