Serializing Nested XML

Rekhender

1.33/5 (2 votes)

2 Nov 2007CPOL

272

Serializing and deserializing nested XML.

Download source code - 24.9 KB

Introduction

Just a few days back, my colleague had to face a problem when de-serializing a nested XML file which had attributes with some values. We searched on the internet but were not able to find any good solution relating to the problem. So finally, I created this code, of course, with the help of my colleague. Seems that the code works fine, but I would like input from others on how to improve it.

Background

As explained above, I was having a problem deserializing nested XML which had attributes along with values. The sample XML was like this:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<article id="97536" status="new">
    <analysis type="ALERT">
        <content>
            <header>
                <date>20071010</date>
                <hour>14:56</hour>
                <author>God</author>
                <media type="IMAGE"></media>
                <code type="001">Hello</code>
                <code type="002"></code>
                <code type="TICK">MM</code>
                <country>India</country>
                <name>Wipro</name>
                <product>WIPS</product>
                <option>
                    <period_unit>day</period_unit>
                    <period_unit_count>1</period_unit_count>
                    <trend type="0020">0</trend>
                    <trend type="0050">0</trend>
                    <trend type="0020_50">0</trend>
                    <trend type="0101_SL">0</trend>
                    <trend type="0909_0">0</trend>
                    <volatility type="LITERS">1</volatility>
                    <momentum type="11170">0</momentum>
                    <momentum type="11130">0</momentum>
                    <strength type="VOLUME">0</strength>
                </option>
            </header>
        </content>
    </analysis>
</article>

Using the code

The code has been broken into several classes depending on how much nested items we have in our XML. So for the sample XML above, we need to define as many classes with the top most being "Article".

The classes are defined as shown:

Imports System.Xml

<Serializable()> _
Public Class article
    <Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute("id")> _
    Public id As String = "9000"

    <Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute("status")> _
    Public status As String = "old"

    <Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("analysis")> _
    Public analysis As List(Of analysis)

    Public Sub New()
        analysis = New List(Of analysis)
    End Sub
End Class

Public Class analysis
    <Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute("type")> _
    Public type As String = "ALERT"

    <Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("content")> _
    Public content As List(Of content)

    Public Sub New()
        content = New List(Of content)
    End Sub
End Class
Public Class content
    <Xml.Serialization.XmlElement("header")> _
    Public header As List(Of header)

    Public Sub New()
        header = New List(Of header)
    End Sub
End Class
Public Class header
    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
      Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public [date] As String = "10000"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public hour As String = "hour"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public author As String = "Author"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public country As String = "India"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public name As String = "Name"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public product As String = "USD"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("media", _
           GetType(media), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _media As List(Of media)

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("code", _
           GetType(code), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _code As List(Of code)

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("option", _
           GetType([option]), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _option As List(Of [option])

    Public Sub New()
        _media = New List(Of media)
        _code = New List(Of code)
        _option = New List(Of [option])
    End Sub
End Class
Public Class media
    Private _type As String = "IMAGE"
    Private _value As String = "ZERO"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class
Public Class code
    Private _type As String = "ISIN"
    Private _value As String = "FR0000121220"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class
Public Class [option]
    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public period_unit As String = "day"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(
       Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public period_unit_count As String = "1"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("trend", _
           GetType(trend), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _trend As List(Of trend)

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("volatility", _
           GetType(volatility), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _volatility As List(Of volatility)

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("momentum", _
           GetType(momentum), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _momentum As List(Of momentum)

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("strength", _
           GetType(strength), Form:=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)> _
    Public _strength As List(Of strength)

    Public Sub New()
        _trend = New List(Of trend)
        _volatility = New List(Of volatility)
        _momentum = New List(Of momentum)
        _strength = New List(Of strength)
    End Sub
End Class
Public Class trend
    Private _type As String = "MM20"
    Private _value As String = "1"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class
Public Class volatility
    Private _type As String = "BOLLINGER"
    Private _value As String = "1"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class
Public Class momentum
    Private _type As String = "RS0190"
    Private _value As String = "0"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class
Public Class strength
    Private _type As String = "VOLUME"
    Private _value As String = "0"

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()> _
    Public Property type() As String
        Get
            Return _type
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _type = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTextAttribute()> _
    Public Property Value() As String
        Get
            Return _value
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _value = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

The code is self-explanatory. I have given default values for testing, but you can remove those.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)