Wrap properties with CData Section - XML Serialization C#

Question

I need to serialize my object in such a way that the properties I want, would get wrapped around CData sections. I was hoping I could do something like this :

Answer 1

With some effort and customization, it possible to get close to what you want, however XmlSerializer will always place the CData nodes at the end of the container element. Your example XML shows the CData nodes between specific nodes of the container element. As long as you don't need this precise control, you can use How do you serialize a string as CDATA using XmlSerializer? to do nested serializations, like so:

public class Order
{
    [JsonProperty]
    public int OrderId { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty]
    public string Name { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty]
    public int Type { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty]
    public decimal Amount { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty]
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }

    [DataMember]
    [JsonProperty]
    [XmlIgnore] // Do not serialize directly
    [XmlWrapCData] // Instead include in CDATA nodes
    public List<Option> ListB { get; set; }

    [DataMember]
    public List<string> ListC { get; set; }

    [XmlIgnore] // Do not serialize directly
    [XmlWrapCData] // Instead include in CDATA nodes
    public Product Product { get; set; }

    [XmlText] // NECESSARY TO EMIT CDATA NODES
    [IgnoreDataMember]
    [JsonIgnore]
    public XmlNode[] CDataContent
    {
        get
        {
            return XmlWrapCDataHelper.GetCDataContent(this);
        }
        set
        {
            XmlWrapCDataHelper.SetCDataContent(this, value);
        }
    }
}

public class Product
{
    public string ProductId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Type { get; set; }
}

public class Option
{
    public string OptionValue { get; set; }
    public string OptionName { get; set; }
}

Using the following extension methods and custom attribute:

[System.AttributeUsage(System.AttributeTargets.Property, AllowMultiple = false)]
public class XmlWrapCDataAttribute : Attribute
{
    public XmlWrapCDataAttribute() { this.Namespace = string.Empty;  }
    public XmlWrapCDataAttribute(string name) : this() { this.Name = name; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public string Namespace { get; set; }
}

public static class XmlWrapCDataHelper
{
    static Tuple<PropertyInfo, XmlWrapCDataAttribute> [] XmlWrapCDataProperties(Type type)
    {
        return type.GetProperties()
            .Where(p => p.GetGetMethod() != null && p.GetSetMethod() != null)
            .Select(p => Tuple.Create(p, p.GetCustomAttribute<XmlWrapCDataAttribute>()))
            .Where(p => p.Item2 != null)
            .ToArray();
    }

    public static XmlNode[] GetCDataContent(object obj)
    {
        var index = new object[0];
        var properties = XmlWrapCDataProperties(obj.GetType());
        return properties.Select(p => (XmlNode)p.Item1.GetValue(obj, index).GetCData(p.Item2.Name ?? p.Item1.Name, p.Item2.Namespace)).ToArray();
    }

    public static void SetCDataContent(object obj, XmlNode [] nodes)
    {
        if (nodes == null || nodes.Length < 1)
            return;
        var index = new object[0];
        var properties = XmlWrapCDataProperties(obj.GetType()).ToDictionary(p => XName.Get(p.Item2.Name ?? p.Item1.Name, p.Item2.Namespace), p => p);
        var xml = "<Root>" + String.Concat(nodes.Select(c => c.Value)) + "</Root>";
        foreach (var element in XElement.Parse(xml).Elements())
        {
            Tuple<PropertyInfo, XmlWrapCDataAttribute> pair;
            if (properties.TryGetValue(element.Name, out pair))
            {
                var value = element.Deserialize(pair.Item1.PropertyType, element.Name.LocalName, element.Name.Namespace.NamespaceName);
                pair.Item1.SetValue(obj, value, index);
            }
        }
    }
}

public static class XmlSerializationHelper
{
    public static XmlCDataSection GetCData(this object obj, string rootName, string rootNamespace)
    {
        return obj == null ? null : new System.Xml.XmlDocument().CreateCDataSection(obj.GetXml(XmlSerializerFactory.Create(obj.GetType(), rootName, rootNamespace)));
    }

    public static XCData GetCData(this object obj, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
    {
        return obj == null ? null : new XCData(obj.GetXml(serializer));
    }

    public static string GetXml(this object obj, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
    {
        using (var textWriter = new StringWriter())
        {
            var ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
            ns.Add("", ""); // Disable the xmlns:xsi and xmlns:xsd lines.
            var settings = new XmlWriterSettings() { Indent = true, IndentChars = "  ", OmitXmlDeclaration = true }; // For cosmetic purposes.
            using (var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(textWriter, settings))
                (serializer ?? new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType())).Serialize(xmlWriter, obj, ns);
            return textWriter.ToString();
        }
    }

    public static object Deserialize(this XContainer element, Type type, string rootName = null, string rootNamespace = null)
    {
        return element.Deserialize(type, XmlSerializerFactory.Create(type, rootName, rootNamespace));
    }

    public static object Deserialize(this XContainer element, Type type, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
    {
        using (var reader = element.CreateReader())
        {
            return (serializer ?? new XmlSerializer(type)).Deserialize(reader);
        }
    }

    public static T DeserializeXML<T>(this string xmlString, XmlSerializer serializer = null)
    {
        using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(xmlString))
        {
            return (T)(serializer ?? new XmlSerializer(typeof(T))).Deserialize(reader);
        }
    }
}

public static class XmlSerializerFactory
{
    readonly static Dictionary<Tuple<Type, string, string>, XmlSerializer> cache;
    readonly static object padlock;

    static XmlSerializerFactory()
    {
        padlock = new object();
        cache = new Dictionary<Tuple<Type, string, string>, XmlSerializer>();
    }

    public static XmlSerializer Create(Type serializedType, string rootName, string rootNamespace)
    {
        if (serializedType == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException();
        if (rootName == null && rootNamespace == null)
            return new XmlSerializer(serializedType);
        lock (padlock)
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer;
            var key = Tuple.Create(serializedType, rootName, rootNamespace);
            if (!cache.TryGetValue(key, out serializer))
                cache[key] = serializer = new XmlSerializer(serializedType, new XmlRootAttribute { ElementName = rootName, Namespace = rootNamespace });
            return serializer;
        }
    }
}

This will parse your provided XML successfully, and in return generate XML that looks like:

<Order>
  <OrderId>2</OrderId>
  <Name>Some Name</Name>
  <Type>1</Type>
  <Amount>100</Amount>
  <Date>2015-12-07T05:10:49.6031106-05:00</Date>
  <ListC>
    <string>ListItem1</string>
    <string>ListItem2</string>
  </ListC><![CDATA[<ListB>
  <Option>
    <OptionValue>OptionValue1</OptionValue>
    <OptionName>Option1</OptionName>
  </Option>
  <Option>
    <OptionValue>OptionValue2</OptionValue>
    <OptionName>Option2</OptionName>
  </Option>
</ListB>]]><![CDATA[<Product>
  <ProductId>1</ProductId>
  <Name>ProductName</Name>
  <Type>Product Type</Type>
</Product>]]></Order>