How to serialize a List<T> object into an XML string.

I’m going to show you how to convert a List<T> object into a properly formatted XML string you can use to POST to a HTTP endpoint.

First, let me show you my C# POCO classes:

   1: [Serializable()]

   2: public class GameMatch

   3: {

   4:     public GameMatch()

   5:     {

   6:         Summoners = new List<Summoner>();

   7:     }

   8:  

   9:     public int GameId { get; set; }

  10:     public string MethodType { get; set; }

  11:     public int GameLength { get; set; }

  12:     public string GameMode { get; set; }

  13:     public string GameType { get; set; }

  14:     public int IpEarned { get; set; }

  15:     public int IpTotal { get; set; }

  16:  

  17:     public List<Summoner> Summoners { get; set; }

  18: }

  19:  

  20: [Serializable()]

  21: public class Summoner

  22: {

  23:     public Summoner()

  24:     {

  25:         Items = new List<Item>();

  26:     }

  27:  

  28:     public List<Item> Items { get; set; } //DONE

  29:  

  30:     public int ProfileIconId { get; set; } //DONE

  31:     public string SummonerName { get; set; } //DONE

  32:     public int Level { get; set; } //DONE

  33:     public int ChampionLevel { get; set; } //DONE

  34:     public bool BotPlayer { get; set; } //DONE

  35:         

  36:     public int Wins { get; set; } //DONE

  37:     public int Losses { get; set; } //DONE

  38:     public int Leaves { get; set; } //DONE

  39:  

  40:     public int NeutralCreepsKilled { get; set; } //DONE

  41:     public int MinionsKilled { get; set; } //DONE

  42:     public int ChampionsKilled { get; set; } //DONE

  43:     public int Assists { get; set; } //DONE

  44:     public int LargestMultiKill { get; set; } //DONE

  45:         

  46:     public string SkinName { get; set; } //DONE

  47:     public int SummonerSpell1Id { get; set; } //DONE

  48:     public int SummonerSpell2Id { get; set; } //DONE

  49:  

  50:     public int DamageDealt { get; set; } //DONE

  51:     public int PhysicalDamageDealt { get; set; } //DONE

  52:     public int MagicDamageDealt { get; set; } //DONE

  53:     public int LargestCriticalStrike { get; set; } //DONE

  54:     public int HealingDone { get; set; } //DONE

  55:  

  56:     public int PhysicalDamageTaken { get; set; } //DONE

  57:     public int DamageTaken { get; set; } //DONE

  58:     public int MagicDamageTaken { get; set; } //DONE

  59:  

  60:     public int GoldEarned { get; set; } //DONE

  61:     public int TimeSpentDead { get; set; } //DONE

  62:  

  63:         

  64:         

  65:     public int InhibitorsDestroyed { get; set; } //DONE

  66:     public int TurretsDestroyed { get; set; } //DONE

  67:         

  68:     public int Deaths { get; set; } //DONE

  69:     public int LargestKillingSpree { get; set; } //DONE

  70:     public int Lose { get; set; } // Maybe this means, 1 = lost; 0 = won? Look into it.

  71: }

  72:  

  73: [Serializable()]

  74: public class Item

  75: {

  76:     public int ItemId { get; set; }

  77: }

 

Simple easy to understand POCO classes with automatic properties.

Next, to serialize them all we need to do is use a XmlTextWriter and XmlSerialWriter

   1: List<GameMatch> parsedMatches = LogParser.Parse(path);

   2:  

   3: StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();

   4: XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

   5:  

   6: XmlTextWriter xmlWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

   7:  

   8: XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<GameMatch>));

   9:  

  10: serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, parsedMatches);

  11:  

  12: string xmlResult = stringWriter.ToString();

  13:  

  14: xmlDoc.LoadXml(xmlResult);

At this point stringWriter.ToString() will return a pure string of the XML representation of your List<T> object.

Hope this helps!