how to serialize a DataTable to json or xml

Question

i\'m trying to serialize DataTable to Json or XML. is it possibly and how? any tutorials and ideas, please.

For example a have a sql table:

CREATE          


        

Answer 1

Here is how to convert it to Json:

        DataTable dt = new DataTable();
        dt.Load(reader);
        string temp = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dt);

and if you want to convert this json to a list of objects (it could be your EF table) then use the below:

dbContext db = new dbContext();
List<Object> jsonList = (List<Object>)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(temp, typeof(List<Object>));

Answer 2

Let me try to answer your question. When it comes to serialization of a dataset or data table do not persist on to a file and readback.That causes IO overhead and is not viable in all scenarios. What you need to do is, write a function to Serialize the DataTable. (Make sure that you give a name to the DataTable inorder to serialize. See the example below in C#

/*Use this method to serialize a given object in to XML. We will pass datatable in to this later */

    private XmlElement Serialize(object obj)
    {
        XmlElement serializedXmlElement = null;  

        try
        {
            System.IO.MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
            System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
            xmlSerializer.Serialize(memoryStream, obj);
            memoryStream.Position = 0;

            XmlDocument xmlDocument = new XmlDocument();
            xmlDocument.Load(memoryStream);
            serializedXmlElement = xmlDocument.DocumentElement;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            //logging statements. You must log exception for review
        }

        return serializedXmlElement; 
    }

After you have implemented the Serialize method, you can serialize your DataTable as shown below. I am not writing my entire sample here for brevity.

        adapter.Fill(employee);
        employee.TableName = "Employees";
        XmlElement xmlElement = (XmlElement)Serialize(employee);
        Console.WriteLine(xmlElement.ToString());
        string xmlString = xmlElement.OuterXml.ToString();

        return xmlString;

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have more questions.

Answer 3

To XML it's simple:

DataTable myTable = new DataTable();
myTable.WriteXml(@"c:\myfile");