vb.net - Create Class from XSD and generate xml

Question

i have an xsd file and need to create an xml from it. Some pages assume to use the xsd.exe from Visual Studio. But how do I link the generated class to the xsd, to create xml files from it ?

Or is there another way to export values via the xsd schema to an xml file ?

Answer 1

If you want to create a XML document that is based on a XSD there are a few steps you need to walk through.

1) You will need to create .NET classes based on your XSD.
2) You will need to create a new instance of that class and serialize the output.

Step 1 - Create a .NET Class from a XSD Document

A XSD file provides the blue print for a class. Here is a example of a XSD file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <xs:schema elementFormDefault="qualified" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <xs:element name="Person" nillable="true" type="Person" />
      <xs:complexType name="Person">
        <xs:sequence>
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="firstName" type="xs:string" />
          <xs:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="lastName" type="xs:string" />
          <xs:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="dateOfBirth" type="xs:dateTime" />
          <xs:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="gender" type="Gender" />
          <xs:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="height" type="xs:int" />
          <xs:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="weight" type="xs:decimal" />
        </xs:sequence>
      </xs:complexType>
      <xs:simpleType name="Gender">
        <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
          <xs:enumeration value="Male" />
          <xs:enumeration value="Female" />
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
</xs:schema>

Create a new folder to work in. I'm using 'C:\STACK'.
Create new text file, copy and paste the XSD into it and save it as 'person.xsd'.
Now we need to use the XSD.exe to convert this file into a class.
You will need to find the XSD exe on your machine, for me it was in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\xsd.exe

Now open command prompt and enter this

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools"

Now we will create the .NET classes (here is is command broken down)

xsd.exe             -Execute xsd   
/classes            -Create Clasess  
/language:vb        -Language to use (VB, CS, JS)  
/out:"c:\stack\"    -Output folder   
c:\stack\person.xsd -The XSD File to use  

Here is the command in one line

xsd.exe c:\stack\person.xsd /classes /language:vb /out:c:\stack\  

After you have run this command a new file will be created 'c:\stack\person.vb' You can then add this class into you project.

Step 2 - Create a new instance of that class and serialize the output

Now that you have added the new class, you can create a instance of it:

    Dim person As New  Person
    person.firstName = "Mike"
    person.lastName = "Bateman"
    person.gender =  Gender.Male
    person.height = 160
    person.weight = 80.3

Now we can serialize the class to a XML file:

    Dim serializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(Person))
    Dim writer As New StreamWriter("c:\stack\person.xml")
    serializer.Serialize(writer, person)
    writer.Close()

And we can read the XML back to a .NET class like this:

    Dim serializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(Person))
    Dim reader As New IO.StreamReader("c:\stack\person.xml")
    Dim personRes As Person = serializer.Deserialize(reader)
    reader.Close()
    reader.Dispose()

Hope that helps!