persist Entity Framework object instance to xml

Question

I am using a domain model generated from a db with entity framework. How can i serialize/deserialize an object instance of this domain model to/from xml? can i use the .edmx file for this? any code samples? thanks

Answer 1

You could use the XmlSerializer class. There is also the DataContractSerializer which was introduced with WCF. For example if you wanted to serialize an existing object to XML using the XmlSerializer class:

SomeModel model = ...
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SomeModel));
using (var writer = XmlWriter.Create("foo.xml"))
{
    serializer.Serialize(writer, model);
}

and to deserialize back a XML to an existing model:

var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SomeModel));
using (var reader = XmlReader.Create("foo.xml"))
{
    var model = (SomeModel)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}

Answer 2

I use this VB Code to serialize my EF model to Xml :

 Try
     Dim serializer = New XmlSerializer(GetType(GestionEDLService.Biens))
     Dim localFolder As StorageFolder = ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder
     Dim sampleFile As StorageFile = Await localFolder.CreateFileAsync("dataFile.xml", CreationCollisionOption.OpenIfExists)
     Dim stream As Stream = Await sampleFile.OpenStreamForWriteAsync()

     serializer.Serialize(stream, MyEFModel.MyEntity)

 Catch ex As Exception
     Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString)
 End Try

EDIT: You can also use a DataContractSerializer like this

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization

Public Sub WriteToStream(sw As System.IO.Stream)

    Dim dataContractSerializer As New DataContractSerializer(GetType(MyDataSource))

    dataContractSerializer.WriteObject(sw, _MyDataSource)

End Sub

Public Sub ReadFromStream(sr As System.IO.Stream)

    Dim dataContractSerializer As New DataContractSerializer(GetType(MyDataSource))

    _MyDataSource = dataContractSerializer.ReadObject(sr)

End Sub

HTH