MapXML

MapXML is a lightweight .NET library designed for mapping and transforming XML structures into strongly-typed objects and vice-versa. It provides a framework for defining XML structure, resolving types, and performing automated parsing and object instantiation.

Projects

• MapXML — Core library
• MapXML.Samples — Samples collection, still a work in progress
• MapXML.Test — Unit test suite using MSTest

📦 Getting Started

To use MapXML in your project you can either install through NuGet

dotnet add package MapXML

or clone and compile along with your project :

git clone https://github.com/LongJSilver/MapXML.git

Sample Use Case

Below is an example that shows a small XML document and its corresponding C# object graph.

Example XML

<Library>
  <Book ISBN="9783161484100">
    <Title>The Art of Computer Programming</Title>
    <Author>Donald E. Knuth</Author>
    <PublishedYear>1968</PublishedYear>
  </Book>
  <Book ISBN="9780131103627">
    <Title>The C Programming Language</Title>
    <Author>Brian W. Kernighan &amp; Dennis M. Ritchie</Author>
    <PublishedYear>1978</PublishedYear>
  </Book>
</Library>

CLR Objects

using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace MapXMLExample
{
     public class Library
    {
        // A collection to hold all Book objects
        [XmlChild("Book")]
        public List<Book> Books { get; set; } = new List<Book>();
    }

    public class Book
    {
        // XML attribute mapped to a property
        public string ISBN { get; set; }

        // XML child elements mapped to properties
        public string Title { get; set; }
        public string Author { get; set; }
        public int PublishedYear { get; set; }
    }
}

Deserialization Code

//Define options
IDeserializationOptions opt = 
XMLDeserializer.OptionsBuilder()
    .AllowImplicitFields(true) //<-- Allow implicit fields
    .Build();

//Create a minimal handler to define the root type
var h = new DefaultHandler();
h.Associate("Library", typeof(Library)); //tell the system what 'Library' nodes should map to

// Create an instance of the XMLDeserializer, assuming the XML is stored in the 'xmlString' variable
XMLDeserializer deserializer = new XMLDeserializer(xmlString, Handler:h, Options:opt);
deserializer.Run();

// Get the results
IReadOnlyList<Library> results = h.GetResults<Library>();

📜 License and notes

MapXML is released under Apache 2.0

Despite being released on NuGet it is in the alpha stage, not stable and still subject to frequent breaking changes.
Feedback, suggestions and contributions are welcome.