How to serialize a .NET object and assign to a string variable?

Question

How do I serialize a .NET object into XML and assign the XML string to variable?

Example:

private void SerializeObject(string filename)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Writing With Stream");

    XmlSerializer serializer =
    new XmlSerializer(typeof(OrderedItem));
    OrderedItem i = new OrderedItem();
    i.ItemName = "Widget";
    i.Description = "Regular Widget";
    i.Quantity = 10;
    i.UnitPrice = (decimal) 2.30;
    i.Calculate();

    // Create a FileStream to write with.
    Stream writer = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Create);

    // Serialize the object, and close the TextWriter
    serializer.Serialize(writer, i);

    //Assign the serialized XML to a variable here.
    //For example, var serialized=serializer.serialized(i);

    writer.Close();
}

Have a look at this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1138414/can-i-serialize-xml-straight-to-a-string-instead-of-a-stream-with-c — Quasdunk, Aug 04 '11 at 06:55
The example here works: https://www.fluxbytes.com/csharp/serialize-an-object-to-string-and-from-string-back-to-object/ — Andrew Jens, Sep 18 '19 at 05:32

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 04 '11 at 06:56

4

XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Test));
Test t = new Test() { Id = 1 };

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
ser.Serialize(ms, t);
ms.Position = 0;

StreamReader r = new StreamReader(ms);
string res = r.ReadToEnd();

EDIT: @Quasdunk not only beat me, but with a better code sample

answered Aug 04 '11 at 06:56

sternr

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lol - sorry, bro :) But at least you shared your own sample, so +1 for that! – Quasdunk Aug 04 '11 at 06:59

Marc Gravell · Answer 2 · 2019-07-29T13:09:31.530

2

The easiest thing to do here is to use a StringWriter:

var sw = new StringWriter();
serializer.Serialize(sw, obj);
string xml = sw.ToString();

edited Jul 29 '19 at 13:09

answered Aug 04 '11 at 07:23

Marc Gravell

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Shouldn't it be: serializer.Serialize(sw, obj); on line 2? – JanT Jul 29 '19 at 12:02
1

@JanT typo, fixed – Marc Gravell Jul 29 '19 at 13:09

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 04 '11 at 07:27

0

using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter() && XmlSerializer xml = new XmlSerializer(typeof(OrderedItem)))
{
    xml.Serializer(sw, i);
    string result = sw.ToString();
}

This assumes that i is an OrderedItem (as per your post).

answered Aug 04 '11 at 07:27

foxy

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score -1 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 16 '14 at 23:02

-1

This is how I do it:

using(var mem = new MemoryStream()){
    serializer.Serialize(mem,"");
    String xml = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(mem.ToArray());
}

edited Jan 16 '14 at 23:02

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 04 '11 at 07:16

Jeffers

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How to serialize a .NET object and assign to a string variable?

4 Answers4

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