How to serialize/deserialize to `Dictionary`

Question

Having empty Dictionary<int, string> how to fill it with keys and values from XML like

<items>
<item id='int_goes_here' value='string_goes_here'/>
</items>

and serialize it back into XML not using XElement?

Answer 1

Write a class A, that contains of an array of class B. Class B should have an id property and a value property. Deserialize the xml to class A. Convert the array in A to the wanted dictionary.

To serialize the dictionary convert it to an instance of class A, and serialize...

Answer 2

There is an easy way with Sharpeserializer (open source) :

http://www.sharpserializer.com/

It can directly serialize/de-serialize dictionary.

There is no need to mark your object with any attribute, nor do you have to give the object type in the Serialize method (See here ).

To install via nuget : Install-package sharpserializer

Then it is very simple :

Hello World (from the official website):

// create fake obj
var obj = createFakeObject();

// create instance of sharpSerializer
// with standard constructor it serializes to xml
var serializer = new SharpSerializer();

// serialize
serializer.Serialize(obj, "test.xml");

// deserialize
var obj2 = serializer.Deserialize("test.xml");

Answer 3

I use serializable classes for the WCF communication between different modules. Below is an example of serializable class which serves as DataContract as well. My approach is to use the power of LINQ to convert the Dictionary into out-of-the-box serializable List<> of KeyValuePair<>:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Runtime.Serialization;
    using System.Xml.Serialization;

    namespace MyFirm.Common.Data
    {
        [DataContract]
        [Serializable]
        public class SerializableClassX
        {
            // since the Dictionary<> class is not serializable,
            // we convert it to the List<KeyValuePair<>>
            [XmlIgnore]
            public Dictionary<string, int> DictionaryX 
            {
                get
                {
                    return  SerializableList == null ? 
                            null :
                            SerializableList.ToDictionary(item => item.Key, item => item.Value);
                }

                set
                {
                    SerializableList =  value == null ?
                                        null :
                                        value.ToList();
                }
            }

            [DataMember]
            [XmlArray("SerializableList")]
            [XmlArrayItem("Pair")]
            public List<KeyValuePair<string, int>> SerializableList { get; set; }
        }
    }

The usage is straightforward - I assign a dictionary to my data object's dictionary field - DictionaryX. The serialization is supported inside the SerializableClassX by conversion of the assigned dictionary into the serializable List<> of KeyValuePair<>:

    // create my data object
    SerializableClassX SerializableObj = new SerializableClassX(param);

    // this will call the DictionaryX.set and convert the '
    // new Dictionary into SerializableList
    SerializableObj.DictionaryX = new Dictionary<string, int>
    {
        {"Key1", 1},
        {"Key2", 2},
    };