Web API - Dynamic to XML serialization

Question

I am writing a Web API web service that is returning dynamically constructed property bag. Is there any working serializer or a way how to serialize dynamic to XML? I tried to look for any good suggestions but haven't found anything usable.

ahsteele · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-09 18:00:42Z

23

We solved it by creating a custom XML formatter.

This isn't an ideal solution but it works.

In the Global.asax

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.Add(new CustomXmlFormatter());
GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters
    .Remove(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.XmlFormatter);

Create a new class called CustomXmlFormatter

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net.Http.Formatting;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace EMP.WebServices.api.Formatters
{
    public class CustomXmlFormatter : MediaTypeFormatter
    {
        public CustomXmlFormatter()
        {
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(
                new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/xml"));
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/xml"));
        }

        public override bool CanReadType(Type type)
        {
            if (type == (Type)null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("type");

            return true;
        }

        public override bool CanWriteType(Type type)
        {
            return true;
        }

        public override Task WriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value,
            Stream writeStream, System.Net.Http.HttpContent content,
            System.Net.TransportContext transportContext)
        {
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
                {
                        var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(value);

                        var xml = JsonConvert
                            .DeserializeXmlNode("{\"Root\":" + json + "}", "");

                        xml.Save(writeStream);
                });
        }
    }
}

edited Apr 9, 2014 at 18:00

ahsteele

26.6k28 gold badges139 silver badges256 bronze badges

answered Sep 30, 2013 at 1:32

Jakub Holovsky

6,81011 gold badges61 silver badges102 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Troy Alford Over a year ago

That's a fantastic answer. This guarantees that if you're also using the Newtonsoft Json converter, you'll always wind up with the same data being output by both formats - without having to mark up all of your models.

Brian Over a year ago

I would suggest adding a JsonMediaTypeFormatter parameter to CustomXmlFormatter. Then when you call SerializeObject, pass in the JsonMediaTypeFormatter.SerializerSettings. This will make sure you use the same settings to create both JSON and XML.

Rafael Dowling Goodman Over a year ago

For me, this is a really elegant solution to the very issue that @Brian mentions above: I wanted my JSON settings customizations to carry over to the XML media type; thanks for sharing this approach, @Jakub! FWIW, I edited the answer with the implementation I ultimately ended up with that accounts for "array" types and accounts for the ability to deserialize XML.

Chris Gomez Over a year ago

I like the XML this produces better than the built in formatter. However, I found the operation to be extremely fast and the System.Xml.XmlDocument to be just a little more than trivial to use in async code. I didn't use Task.Factory.StartNew to queue this work, but instead derived from BufferedMediaTypeFormatter and found no performance difference under load and didn't create a Task for the sake of complying with the method signature.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Web API - Dynamic to XML serialization

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related