How to: Read Object Data from an XML File

This example reads object data that was previously written to an XML file using the XmlSerializer class.

Example

This code example is also available as an IntelliSense code snippet. In the code snippet picker, it is located in XML. For more information, see Code Snippets.

public class Book
{
    public String title;
}       

public void ReadXML()
{
    // First write something so that there is something to read ...
    var b = new Book { title = "Serialization Overview" };
    var writer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(Book));
    var wfile = new System.IO.StreamWriter(@"c:\temp\SerializationOverview.xml");
    writer.Serialize(wfile, b);
    wfile.Close();

    // Now we can read the serialized book ...
    System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer reader =
        new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(Book));
    System.IO.StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader(
        @"c:\temp\SerializationOverview.xml");
    Book overview =  (Book)reader.Deserialize(file);
    file.Close();

    Console.WriteLine(overview.title);

}

Compiling the Code

Replace the file name "c:\IntroToVB.xml" with the name of the file containing the serialized data. For more information about serializing data, see How to: Write Object Data to an XML File (C# and Visual Basic).

The class must have a public constructor without parameters.

Only public properties and fields are deserialized.

Robust Programming

The following conditions may cause an exception:

• The class being serialized does not have a public, parameterless constructor.

• The data in the file does not represent data from the class to be deserialized.

• The file does not exist (IOException).

.NET Framework Security

Always verify inputs, and never deserialize data from an untrusted source.

The re-created object runs on a local computer with the permissions of the code that deserialized it.

Verify all inputs before using the data in your application.