XMLSerialize an ObservableCollection
Try using the System.Xml.Serialization.XmlInclude attribute. I'm not sure if I correctly understand your intent of a collection of collections, but assuming that is what you want, here is a working solution. The output follows the code:
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
namespace StackoverflowXxmlSerialize
{
public enum Status { Pending, Active, Completed, Cancelled }
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlInclude(typeof(UserStory))]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlInclude(typeof(Task))]
public abstract class Entity : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
public class UserStory : Entity
{
public uint StoryID { get; set; }
public Status Status { get; set; }
public ObservableCollection<Task> Tasks { get; set; }
}
public class Task : Entity
{
public uint TaskID { get; set; }
}
class Util
{
public static void SerializeObjectToXML<T>(T item, string FilePath)
{
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter(FilePath))
{
xs.Serialize(wr, item);
}
}
}
public class TestSerialize
{
static ObservableCollection<Entity> UserStories { get; set; }
public static void RunTest()
{
UserStories = new ObservableCollection<Entity> {
new UserStory {
StoryID = 127,
Status = Status.Active,
Tasks = new ObservableCollection<Task>{new Task { TaskID = 11 }, new Task { TaskID = 12 }}
},
new UserStory {
StoryID = 128,
Status = Status.Cancelled,
Tasks = new ObservableCollection<Task>{new Task { TaskID = 13 }, new Task { TaskID = 14 }}
},
new UserStory {
StoryID = 129,
Status = Status.Completed,
Tasks = new ObservableCollection<Task>{new Task { TaskID = 9 }, new Task { TaskID = 10 }}
},
};
ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<Entity>> Document
= new ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<Entity>>();
Document.Add(UserStories);
Util.SerializeObjectToXML<ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<Entity>>>(Document, @"d:\tmp\junk.txt");
}
}
}
The above code produced this text file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ArrayOfArrayOfEntity xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<ArrayOfEntity>
<Entity xsi:type="UserStory">
<StoryID>127</StoryID>
<Status>Active</Status>
<Tasks>
<Task>
<TaskID>11</TaskID>
</Task>
<Task>
<TaskID>12</TaskID>
</Task>
</Tasks>
</Entity>
<Entity xsi:type="UserStory">
<StoryID>128</StoryID>
<Status>Cancelled</Status>
<Tasks>
<Task>
<TaskID>13</TaskID>
</Task>
<Task>
<TaskID>14</TaskID>
</Task>
</Tasks>
</Entity>
<Entity xsi:type="UserStory">
<StoryID>129</StoryID>
<Status>Completed</Status>
<Tasks>
<Task>
<TaskID>9</TaskID>
</Task>
<Task>
<TaskID>10</TaskID>
</Task>
</Tasks>
</Entity>
</ArrayOfEntity>
</ArrayOfArrayOfEntity>
![John Isaiah Carmona](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RJieM.jpg?s=256&g=1)
John Isaiah Carmona
Experienced Software Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the insurance industry. Skilledin C#, Databases, Ruby on Rails, and Web Services.
Updated on August 04, 2022Comments
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John Isaiah Carmona almost 2 years
I am having a problem in the xml serialization of observable collection.
Here is what I am serializing:
public enum Status { Pending, Active, Completed, Cancelled } public abstract class Entity : INotifyPropertyChanged { ... } public class UserStory : Entity { public uint StoryID { get; set; } public Status Status { get; set; } ... public ObservableCollection<Task> Tasks { get; set; } } public class Task : Entity { public uint TaskID { get; set; } ... }
Here is how I serialize it:
public static void SerializeObjectToXML<T>(T item, string FilePath) { XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter(FilePath)) { xs.Serialize(wr, item); } } public class Main() { ObservableCollection<UserStory> UserStories { get; set; } void Main() { ... ObservableCollection<object> Document = new ObservableCollection<object>(); Document.Add(UserStories); SerializeObjectToXML<ObservableCollection<object>>(Document , "..."); ... } }
But an error occur in the
xs.Serialize(wr, item);
line saying:InvalidOperation Exception: There was an error generating the XML document. Inner Exception: The type ScrumPresentor.ObservableCollection`1[[ScrumPresentor.UserStory, ScrumPresentor, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null]] may not be used in this context.
I am using Visual Studio 2010, WPF application in .NET 4.0.
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John Isaiah Carmona over 12 yearsThanks, but I do a work around that instead of putting the
ObservableCollection<UserStory>
inObservableCollection<Entity>
, I create a class that contatins theObservableCollection<UserStory>
. But your code really does work. Thanks anyways. I do want to vote your answer up but I can't since I at-least need 15 rep. -
Arushi Agrawal almost 11 yearsCan you provide the piece of code for this class which you've created for putting the observable collection. I'm facing the same problem