Deserializing with XmlSerializer List into Dictionary

Question

I am serializing data into xml by converting Dictionary into List.
The serialization is ok.

Is it possible to populate dictionary on deserialization? (right now

Answer 1

If the question is "can I convert a serialized list to a dictionary without writing code" then the answer is no. There isn't much wrong with what you are doing now.

You could consider a dictionary that supports XML serialization so you don't have to convert it to a list first. Here's one:

  public class XmlDictionary<T, V> : Dictionary<T, V>, IXmlSerializable {
    [XmlType("Entry")]
    public struct Entry {
      public Entry(T key, V value) : this() { Key = key; Value = value; }
      [XmlElement("Key")]
      public T Key { get; set; }
      [XmlElement("Value")]
      public V Value { get; set; }
    }

    System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema IXmlSerializable.GetSchema() {
      return null;
    }

    void IXmlSerializable.ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader) {
      this.Clear();
      var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Entry>));
      reader.Read();
      var list = (List<Entry>)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
      foreach (var entry in list) this.Add(entry.Key, entry.Value);
      reader.ReadEndElement();
    }

    void IXmlSerializable.WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer) {
      var list = new List<Entry>(this.Count);
      foreach (var entry in this) list.Add(new Entry(entry.Key, entry.Value));
      XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(list.GetType());
      serializer.Serialize(writer, list);
    }
  }