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DeSerialization - Element child nodes to string

Hello Experts,

Assume I want to deserialize the following XML:

<ROOT>
<STATUS>101</STATUS>
<PAYLOAD>
<PERSON>
<FIRSTNAME>xxx</FIRSTNAME>
<....>xxx</....>
</PERSON>
</PAYLOAD>
</ROOT>

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I would like to deserialize this xml, but let the payload element outerxml (element + childnodes) to be stored as a string in the PayLoad property.

    [XmlRoot(ElementName="ROOT")]
    public class Example
    {
        private string status;
        private string payLoad;

        [XmlElement(ElementName = "PAYLOAD")]
        public string PayLoad
        {
            get { return payLoad; }
            set { payLoad= value.}
        }
        [XmlElement(ElementName = "STATUS")]
        public string Status
        {
            get { return status; }
            set { status = value; }
        }

    }

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Example use:

Example MyExample = serializer.Deserialize(xmlstring);

Console.WriteLine(MyExample.PayLoad);

//Writes:
//<PAYLOAD><PERSON><FIRSTNAME>xxx</FIRSTNAME><....>xxx</....></PERSON></PAYLOAD>

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Is this possible?

Thank you,
amr-it

kaufmed

You could do something like this:

XmlSerializer MyExample = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Example));

MyExample.UnknownElement += new XmlElementEventHandler(deserializer_UnknownElement);

Example MyExample = serializer.Deserialize(xmlstring) AS Example;

...

static void deserializer_UnknownElement(object sender, XmlElementEventArgs e)
{
    Example obj = e.ObjectBeingDeserialized as Example;

    if (e.Element.Name == "PAYLOAD")
    {
        obj.PayLoad = e.Element.OuterXml;
    }
}

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amr-it

ASKER

Thank you kaufmed for your comment.
I forgot to mention that my serializer and deserializer methods are located in a helper class and are designed to be generic (handling many different types), meaning if possible, I don't want to cast to the Example type. I got it to work doing something very similair to what you have proposed and I would assume that the above would work.

But, is there any way to define this in the class design so that the deserializer directly knows how to handle it?

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kaufmed

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SOLUTION

amr-it

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amr-it

ASKER

Comment for accepting own solution + expert:
Hopefully this generic solution also can be used for someone.