XmlSerialization throwing error when deserializing?

Question

I am trying to serialize an object into the database using xml serialization, however when deserializing it I am getting an error.

The error is There is an error in XML document (2, 2) with an inner exception of "<MyCustomClass xmlns=''> was not expected."

The code I am using to serialize is:

public static string SerializeToXml<T>(T obj) { if (obj == null) return string.Empty; StringWriter xmlWriter = new StringWriter(); XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, obj); return xmlWriter.ToString(); } public static T DeserializeFromXml<T>(string xml) { if (xml == string.Empty) return default(T); T obj; XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)); StringReader xmlReader = new StringReader(xml); obj = (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlReader); return obj; }

The SerializedXml begins with:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> <MyCustomClass xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

This is my first time using serialization and I'm wondering what I'm doing something wrong with my code.

As an aside, normally xmlReader and xmlWriter would be used for instances of XmlReader and XmlWriter, not StringReader and StringWriter. — Steven Sudit
– Steven Sudit, Commented Aug 18, 2010 at 19:59
To solve this, I think we'll need to see the declaration of MyCustomClass, as well as the rest of the XML. — Steven Sudit
– Steven Sudit, Commented Aug 18, 2010 at 19:59
It is telling me I can't create an instance of the abstract class XmlWriter — Rachel
– Rachel, Commented Aug 18, 2010 at 20:01
My equivalent code works good. Can you serialize empty class? Then add some properties to it. — alxx
– alxx, Commented Aug 18, 2010 at 20:07
The MyCustomClass code is fairly long... it contains no attributes other then [Serializable] and its only property is a CustomObservableCollection (inherited from base ObservableCollection) of CustomObjects. — Rachel
– Rachel, Commented Aug 18, 2010 at 20:07

John Saunders · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-18 20:10:33Z

BTW, you need using blocks around your code:

using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(xml)) { obj = (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(reader); }

leppie · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-19 12:05:11Z

Unfortunately, XmlSerialization exceptions is a piece of crap.

You normally have to drill down into countless levels of inner exceptions to get to the real error.

I will keep that in mind when doing any other debugging, Thanks

Rachel · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-19 12:08:46Z

I'm sorry, I just realized my problem was stupidity =/

I was serializing the class but trying to deserialize the ObservableCollection only. Once I changed that to serializing/deserialing the correct object it works great, although I thank you for the tip about using blocks

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