Deserialization of xml file by using XmlArray?

Question

I am trying to deserialize this xml structure.

    
        Test
             


        

Answer 1

You need a common type to be able to deserialize your XML, and with that you can define with the [XmlElement] namespace what type to instantiate depending on the name of the element, as shown below.

public class StackOverflow_15907357
{
    const string XML = @"<?xml version=""1.0""?>
                        <DietPlan>
                            <Health>
                                <Fruit>Test</Fruit>
                                <Fruit>Test</Fruit>
                                <Veggie>Test</Veggie>
                                <Veggie>Test</Veggie>
                            </Health>
                        </DietPlan>";

    [XmlRoot(ElementName = "DietPlan")]
    public class TestSerialization
    {
        [XmlArray("Health")]
        [XmlArrayItem("Fruit", Type = typeof(Fruit))]
        [XmlArrayItem("Veggie", Type = typeof(Veggie))]
        public Food[] Foods { get; set; }
    }

    [XmlInclude(typeof(Fruit))]
    [XmlInclude(typeof(Veggie))]
    public class Food
    {
        [XmlText]
        public string Text { get; set; }
    }

    public class Fruit : Food { }
    public class Veggie : Food { }

    public static void Test()
    {
        MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(XML));
        XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TestSerialization));
        TestSerialization obj = (TestSerialization)xs.Deserialize(ms);
        foreach (var food in obj.Foods)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", food.GetType().Name, food.Text);
        }
    }
}