How to convert *.RESX XML file to JSON file in C#

Question

How can I convert *.RESX XML file to JSON file in C#?

I have regular RESX file. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
  <xsd:schema id="root" xmlns="" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">
    <xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" />
    <xsd:element name="root" msdata:IsDataSet="true">
      <xsd:complexType>
        <xsd:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
          <xsd:element name="metadata">
            <xsd:complexType>
              <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" />
              </xsd:sequence>
              <xsd:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xsd:string" />
              <xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" />
              <xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" />
              <xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
            </xsd:complexType>
          </xsd:element>
          <xsd:element name="assembly">
            <xsd:complexType>
              <xsd:attribute name="alias" type="xsd:string" />
              <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
            </xsd:complexType>
          </xsd:element>
          <xsd:element name="data">
            <xsd:complexType>
              <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
                <xsd:element name="comment" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="2" />
              </xsd:sequence>
              <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
              <xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="3" />
              <xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="4" />
              <xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
            </xsd:complexType>
          </xsd:element>
          <xsd:element name="resheader">
            <xsd:complexType>
              <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
              </xsd:sequence>
              <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" />
            </xsd:complexType>
          </xsd:element>
        </xsd:choice>
      </xsd:complexType>
    </xsd:element>
  </xsd:schema>
  <resheader name="resmimetype">
    <value>text/microsoft-resx</value>
  </resheader>
  <resheader name="version">
    <value>2.0</value>
  </resheader>
  <resheader name="reader">
    <value>System.Resources.ResXResourceReader, System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</value>
  </resheader>
  <resheader name="writer">
    <value>System.Resources.ResXResourceWriter, System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</value>
  </resheader>
    <data xml:space="preserve" name="KEY_1">       
        <value>Text A</value>
    </data>
    <data xml:space="preserve" name="KEY_2">       
        <value>Text B</value>
    </data>
</root>

I need to convert this file to JSON file:

{
  "Texts": [
    {
      "id": "KEY_1",
      "text": "Text A"
    },
    {
      "id": "KEY_2",
      "text": "Text B"
    }
  ]
}

As you can see for conversion is relevant only part with data:

    <data xml:space="preserve" name="KEY_1">       
        <value>Text A</value>
    </data>
    <data xml:space="preserve" name="KEY_2">       
        <value>Text B</value>
    </data>

Everything else is irrelevant for transformation.

1. Name in data attribute XML => is id in JSON file.
2. Value in XML=> is text in JSON file.

EDIT: I have solution, but I think that it can be done better

using System.Xml;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace XMLtoJSON
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Dictionary<string, string> result = new Dictionary<string, string>();
            // To convert an XML node contained in string xml into a JSON string 
            var xml = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Test\ClientLocalization.en-US.resx");
            XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
            doc.LoadXml(xml);

            XmlNodeList node = doc.GetElementsByTagName("data");
            foreach (XmlNode item in node)
            {
                var value = item.InnerText.Trim();
                var keyName = item.Attributes.Cast<XmlAttribute>().FirstOrDefault(f => f.Name == "name");
                if (keyName != null)
                {
                    var key = keyName.InnerText.Trim();
                    result.Add(key, value);
                }
            }

            string res = @"{ ""Text"" : [ ";
            foreach (var item in result)
            {
                res += "{";
                res += $" \"id\":\"{item.Key}\",\"text\":\"{item.Value}\"";
                res += "},";
            }
            res = res.Remove(res.Length - 1);
            res += @" ]} ";
        }

    }
}

Answer 1

Instead of using XmlDocument, I would use XElement as it is much more LINQ-friendly. Use XElement.Parse to load the XML, then select the nodes you are interested in and shape them into an anonymous object structure that mirrors the JSON you want. Finally, use your favorite JSON serializer (such as Json.Net or JavaScriptSerializer) to create the JSON from there. I don't recommend hand-rolling your own JSON, as it is very error prone.

using Newtonsoft.Json;

var xml = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Test\ClientLocalization.en-US.resx");

var obj = new
{
    Texts = XElement.Parse(xml)
        .Elements("data")
        .Select(el => new
        {
            id = el.Attribute("name").Value,
            text = el.Element("value").Value.Trim()
        })
        .ToList()
};

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj, Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.Indented);

// OR:
//JavaScriptSerializer jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
//string json = jss.Serialize(obj);

Console.WriteLine(json);

Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/ZIaCjd

Answer 2

I'd recommend you the JSON.NET Framework. It has built-in functions for converting XML to JSON and vice versa.

Example:

string xml = @"<?xml version='1.0' standalone='no'?>
<root>
  <person id='1'>
    <name>Alan</name>
    <url>http://www.google.com</url>
  </person>
  <person id='2'>
    <name>Louis</name>
    <url>http://www.yahoo.com</url>
  </person>
</root>";

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(xml);

string jsonText = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(doc);
//{
//  "?xml": {
//    "@version": "1.0",
//    "@standalone": "no"
//  },
//  "root": {
//    "person": [
//      {
//        "@id": "1",
//        "name": "Alan",
//        "url": "http://www.google.com"
//      },
//      {
//        "@id": "2",
//        "name": "Louis",
//        "url": "http://www.yahoo.com"
//      }
//    ]
//  }
//}