XML Output based on XSD file.

[abhijit]

I was recently tasked with some ETL related activity.

The objective was to get data from a table to a hierarchical XML file.

This is how I went about it.

1> Get the XSD File.
2> Map the elements in the XSD with our present data.
3> Use XSD tool to create a class file.
4> Use Visual Studio to include this class in a project.
5> Create an instance of the class and then write the XML.

I have simplified the code by excluding the DB connection and hardcoding the values.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xs:schema id="RECORDSET" xmlns="" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">
  <xs:element name="RECORDSET" msdata:IsDataSet="true" msdata:UseCurrentLocale="true">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
        <xs:element name="STUDENT_RECORD">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
              <xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
              <xs:element name="dob" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
              <xs:element name="subjectlist" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:sequence>
                    <xs:element name="subject" type="xs:string" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
                  </xs:sequence>
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:choice>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

2> Open the visual studio command line window and type

xsd /c /l:cs /n:StudentXSD student.xsd 

You'll be able to get a C Sharp file.
3> Add reference to this C Sharp file in the Visual Studio Environment.

4> The following code will help you create a XML file based on this structure.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using StudentXSD;
using System.Windows.Forms;
 
namespace StudentXSD
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        private void cmdWriteXML_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            RECORDSETSTUDENT_RECORD rc1 = new RECORDSETSTUDENT_RECORD();
            string[] subjects = { "math", "science", "nuclear physics"};
 
            rc1.firstname = "Adam";
            rc1.lastname = "Cross";
            rc1.dob = DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString();
            rc1.subjectlist = subjects;
            SerializeToXML(rc1);
        }
        static public void SerializeToXML(RECORDSETSTUDENT_RECORD studRec)
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(RECORDSETSTUDENT_RECORD));
            TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(@"D:\User\studentData.xml");
            serializer.Serialize(textWriter, studRec);
            textWriter.Close();
        }
    }
}