Is svcutil.exe a replacement for xsd.exe?

Question

I am using xsd.exe to generate some c# classes from a .xsd file. I ran into the same issue that is covered here and on other sites where xsd.exe generates Type[] arrays instead of generic List collections for types in the .xsd file. Some people have suggested that svcutil.exe can be used as a replacement for xsd.exe if you pass the /dataContractOnly parameter to svcutil.exe. However, it seems like those people are mistaken because svcutil.exe actually generates System.Xml.XmlNode[] array properties instead of creating types based on the schema in the .xsd file.

For example, given this simple .xsd schema:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <xs:schema targetNamespace="http://tempuri.org/XMLSchema.xsd" elementFormDefault="qualified" xmlns="http://tempuri.org/XMLSchema.xsd" xmlns:mstns="http://tempuri.org/XMLSchema.xsd" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" >     <xs:complexType name="Employee">         <xs:all>             <xs:element name="FirstName" type="xs:string"></xs:element>             <xs:element name="LastName" type="xs:string"></xs:element>         </xs:all>     </xs:complexType>      <xs:element name="Employees">         <xs:complexType>             <xs:sequence maxOccurs="unbounded">                 <xs:element name="Employee" type="Employee"></xs:element>             </xs:sequence>         </xs:complexType>     </xs:element> </xs:schema> 

'xsd.exe /classes Example.xsd' generates:

public partial class Employees {      private Employee[] employeeField;      public Employee[] Employee {         get { return this.employeeField; }         set { this.employeeField = value; }     } }  public partial class Employee {      private string firstNameField;      private string lastNameField;      public string FirstName {         get { return this.firstNameField; }         set { this.firstNameField = value; }     }      public string LastName {         get { return this.lastNameField; }         set { this.lastNameField = value; }     } } 

'svcutil.exe /target:code /dataContractOnly /serializer:XmlSerializer /importXmlTypes /collectionType:System.Collections.Generic.List`1 Example.xsd' generates:

public partial class Employee : object, System.Runtime.Serialization.IExtensibleDataObject{      private System.Runtime.Serialization.ExtensionDataObject extensionDataField;      private string FirstNameField;      private string LastNameField;      public System.Runtime.Serialization.ExtensionDataObject ExtensionData{         get{ return this.extensionDataField; }         set{ this.extensionDataField = value; }     }      public string FirstName{         get{ return this.FirstNameField; }         set{ this.FirstNameField = value; }     }      public string LastName{         get{ return this.LastNameField; }         set{ this.LastNameField = value; }     } }  public partial class Employees : object, System.Xml.Serialization.IXmlSerializable{      private System.Xml.XmlNode[] nodesField;      private static System.Xml.XmlQualifiedName typeName = new System.Xml.XmlQualifiedName("Employees", "http://tempuri.org/XMLSchema.xsd");      public System.Xml.XmlNode[] Nodes{         get{ return this.nodesField; }         set{ this.nodesField = value; }     }      public void ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader){         this.nodesField = System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlSerializableServices.ReadNodes(reader);     }      public void WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer){         System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlSerializableServices.WriteNodes(writer, this.Nodes);     }      public System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema GetSchema(){         return null;     }      public static System.Xml.XmlQualifiedName ExportSchema(System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaSet schemas){         System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlSerializableServices.AddDefaultSchema(schemas, typeName);         return typeName;     } } 

1. Is svcutil.exe really supposed to be a replacement for xsd.exe? The output generated seems to be quite different.

2. At this point, it looks like I will have to use xsd.exe to create classes from my .xsd file and then manually tweak the the code to get it in the form I want. I realize that using purely generated code would be ideal, but I was wondering if other people are using xsd.exe as a starting point and then working from there or if I need to consider another approach altogether?

3. Are there any updates to xsd.exe in Visual Studio 2010?

Answer 1

Yes, svcutil.exe can be used as a replacement for xsd.exe but it sounds like you are having trouble getting generic collections to be generated. svcutil.exe has a collectionType switch that allows you to specify the type to be used for a collection:

svcutil /o:Svc.cs /ct:System.Collections.Generic.List`1 http://example.com