How to serialize an object to XML without getting xmlns

Question

Is there a way for me to serialize an object in  NET without the XML Namespaces automatically serializing also   It seems that by default  NET believes the XSI and XSD namespaces should be included  but I don t want them there

User · Answer

If you want to remove the namespace you may also want to remove the version, to save you searching I've added that functionality so the below code will do both.

I've also wrapped it in a generic method as I'm creating very large xml files which are too large to serialize in memory so I've broken my output file down and serialize it in smaller "chunks":

    public static string XmlSerialize<T>(T entity) where T : class
    {
        // removes version
        XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
        settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;

        XmlSerializer xsSubmit = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
        using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
        using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(sw, settings))
        {
            // removes namespace
            var xmlns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
            xmlns.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);

            xsSubmit.Serialize(writer, entity, xmlns);
            return sw.ToString(); // Your XML
        }
    }

User · Answer

If you are unable to get rid of extra xmlns attributes for each element  when serializing to xml from generated classes  e g   when xsd exe was used   so you have something like    lt manyElementWith xmlns  urn names specification schema xsd one    gt    then i would share with you what worked for me  a mix of previous answers and what i found here    explicitly set all your different xmlns as follows   Dim xmlns   New XmlSerializerNamespaces   xmlns Add  one    urn names specification schema xsd one   xmlns Add  two     urn names specification schema xsd two   xmlns Add  three     urn names specification schema xsd three     then pass it to the serialize   serializer Serialize writer  object  xmlns     you will have the three namespaces declared  in the root element and no more needed to be generated in the other elements which will be prefixed accordingly   lt root xmlns one  urn names specification schema xsd one        gt      lt one Element   gt      lt two ElementFromAnotherNameSpace   gt

User · Answer

If you want to remove the namespace you may also want to remove the version, to save you searching I've added that functionality so the below code will do both.

I've also wrapped it in a generic method as I'm creating very large xml files which are too large to serialize in memory so I've broken my output file down and serialize it in smaller "chunks":

    public static string XmlSerialize<T>(T entity) where T : class
    {
        // removes version
        XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
        settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;

        XmlSerializer xsSubmit = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
        using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
        using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(sw, settings))
        {
            // removes namespace
            var xmlns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
            xmlns.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);

            xsSubmit.Serialize(writer, entity, xmlns);
            return sw.ToString(); // Your XML
        }
    }

User · Answer

I Suggest this helper class   public static class Xml        region Fields      private static readonly XmlWriterSettings WriterSettings   new XmlWriterSettings  OmitXmlDeclaration   true  Indent   true       private static readonly XmlSerializerNamespaces Namespaces   new XmlSerializerNamespaces new    new XmlQualifiedName                  endregion       region Methods      public static string Serialize object obj                if  obj    null                        return null                     return DoSerialize obj              private static string DoSerialize object obj                using  var ms   new MemoryStream            using  var writer   XmlWriter Create ms  WriterSettings                         var serializer   new XmlSerializer obj GetType                 serializer Serialize writer  obj  Namespaces               return Encoding UTF8 GetString ms ToArray                          public static T Deserialize lt T gt  string data          where T   class               if  string IsNullOrEmpty data                         return null                     return DoDeserialize lt T gt  data              private static T DoDeserialize lt T gt  string data  where T   class               using  var ms   new MemoryStream Encoding UTF8 GetBytes data                          var serializer   new XmlSerializer typeof  T                return  T  serializer Deserialize ms                         endregion

User · Answer

Ahh    nevermind   It s always the search after the question is posed that yields the answer   My object that is being serialized is obj and has already been defined   Adding an XMLSerializerNamespace with a single empty namespace to the collection does the trick   In VB like this   Dim xs As New XmlSerializer GetType cEmploymentDetail   Dim ns As New XmlSerializerNamespaces   ns Add          Dim settings As New XmlWriterSettings   settings OmitXmlDeclaration   True  Using ms As New MemoryStream          sw As XmlWriter   XmlWriter Create ms  settings         sr As New StreamReader ms  xs Serialize sw  obj  ns  ms Position   0 Console WriteLine sr ReadToEnd    End Using   in C  like this     Create our own namespaces for the output XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces       Add an empty namespace and empty value ns Add             Create the serializer XmlSerializer slz   new XmlSerializer someType      Serialize the object with our own namespaces  notice the overload  slz Serialize myXmlTextWriter  someObject  ns

User · Answer

If you are unable to get rid of extra xmlns attributes for each element  when serializing to xml from generated classes  e g   when xsd exe was used   so you have something like    lt manyElementWith xmlns  urn names specification schema xsd one    gt    then i would share with you what worked for me  a mix of previous answers and what i found here    explicitly set all your different xmlns as follows   Dim xmlns   New XmlSerializerNamespaces   xmlns Add  one    urn names specification schema xsd one   xmlns Add  two     urn names specification schema xsd two   xmlns Add  three     urn names specification schema xsd three     then pass it to the serialize   serializer Serialize writer  object  xmlns     you will have the three namespaces declared  in the root element and no more needed to be generated in the other elements which will be prefixed accordingly   lt root xmlns one  urn names specification schema xsd one        gt      lt one Element   gt      lt two ElementFromAnotherNameSpace   gt

User · Answer

XmlWriterSettings settings   new XmlWriterSettings                       OmitXmlDeclaration   true                     XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces            ns Add                   StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder             XmlSerializer xs   new XmlSerializer typeof BankingDetails             using  XmlWriter xw   XmlWriter Create sb  settings                         xs Serialize xw  model  ns               xw Flush                return sb ToString

User · Answer

Ahh    nevermind   It s always the search after the question is posed that yields the answer   My object that is being serialized is obj and has already been defined   Adding an XMLSerializerNamespace with a single empty namespace to the collection does the trick   In VB like this   Dim xs As New XmlSerializer GetType cEmploymentDetail   Dim ns As New XmlSerializerNamespaces   ns Add          Dim settings As New XmlWriterSettings   settings OmitXmlDeclaration   True  Using ms As New MemoryStream          sw As XmlWriter   XmlWriter Create ms  settings         sr As New StreamReader ms  xs Serialize sw  obj  ns  ms Position   0 Console WriteLine sr ReadToEnd    End Using   in C  like this     Create our own namespaces for the output XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces       Add an empty namespace and empty value ns Add             Create the serializer XmlSerializer slz   new XmlSerializer someType      Serialize the object with our own namespaces  notice the overload  slz Serialize myXmlTextWriter  someObject  ns

User · Answer

Ahh    nevermind   It s always the search after the question is posed that yields the answer   My object that is being serialized is obj and has already been defined   Adding an XMLSerializerNamespace with a single empty namespace to the collection does the trick   In VB like this   Dim xs As New XmlSerializer GetType cEmploymentDetail   Dim ns As New XmlSerializerNamespaces   ns Add          Dim settings As New XmlWriterSettings   settings OmitXmlDeclaration   True  Using ms As New MemoryStream          sw As XmlWriter   XmlWriter Create ms  settings         sr As New StreamReader ms  xs Serialize sw  obj  ns  ms Position   0 Console WriteLine sr ReadToEnd    End Using   in C  like this     Create our own namespaces for the output XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces       Add an empty namespace and empty value ns Add             Create the serializer XmlSerializer slz   new XmlSerializer someType      Serialize the object with our own namespaces  notice the overload  slz Serialize myXmlTextWriter  someObject  ns

User · Answer

If you want to get rid of the extra xmlns xsi  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema-instance  and xmlns xsd  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema   but still keep your own namespace xmlns  http   schemas YourCompany com YourSchema    you use the same code as above except for this simple change       Add lib namespace with empty prefix   ns Add      http   schemas YourCompany com YourSchema

User · Answer

Ahh    nevermind   It s always the search after the question is posed that yields the answer   My object that is being serialized is obj and has already been defined   Adding an XMLSerializerNamespace with a single empty namespace to the collection does the trick   In VB like this   Dim xs As New XmlSerializer GetType cEmploymentDetail   Dim ns As New XmlSerializerNamespaces   ns Add          Dim settings As New XmlWriterSettings   settings OmitXmlDeclaration   True  Using ms As New MemoryStream          sw As XmlWriter   XmlWriter Create ms  settings         sr As New StreamReader ms  xs Serialize sw  obj  ns  ms Position   0 Console WriteLine sr ReadToEnd    End Using   in C  like this     Create our own namespaces for the output XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces       Add an empty namespace and empty value ns Add             Create the serializer XmlSerializer slz   new XmlSerializer someType      Serialize the object with our own namespaces  notice the overload  slz Serialize myXmlTextWriter  someObject  ns

User · Answer

If you want to get rid of the extra xmlns xsi  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema-instance  and xmlns xsd  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema   but still keep your own namespace xmlns  http   schemas YourCompany com YourSchema    you use the same code as above except for this simple change       Add lib namespace with empty prefix   ns Add      http   schemas YourCompany com YourSchema

User · Answer

XmlWriterSettings settings   new XmlWriterSettings                       OmitXmlDeclaration   true                     XmlSerializerNamespaces ns   new XmlSerializerNamespaces            ns Add                   StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder             XmlSerializer xs   new XmlSerializer typeof BankingDetails             using  XmlWriter xw   XmlWriter Create sb  settings                         xs Serialize xw  model  ns               xw Flush                return sb ToString

User · Answer

I Suggest this helper class   public static class Xml        region Fields      private static readonly XmlWriterSettings WriterSettings   new XmlWriterSettings  OmitXmlDeclaration   true  Indent   true       private static readonly XmlSerializerNamespaces Namespaces   new XmlSerializerNamespaces new    new XmlQualifiedName                  endregion       region Methods      public static string Serialize object obj                if  obj    null                        return null                     return DoSerialize obj              private static string DoSerialize object obj                using  var ms   new MemoryStream            using  var writer   XmlWriter Create ms  WriterSettings                         var serializer   new XmlSerializer obj GetType                 serializer Serialize writer  obj  Namespaces               return Encoding UTF8 GetString ms ToArray                          public static T Deserialize lt T gt  string data          where T   class               if  string IsNullOrEmpty data                         return null                     return DoDeserialize lt T gt  data              private static T DoDeserialize lt T gt  string data  where T   class               using  var ms   new MemoryStream Encoding UTF8 GetBytes data                          var serializer   new XmlSerializer typeof  T                return  T  serializer Deserialize ms                         endregion

[.net] How to serialize an object to XML without getting xmlns="..."?

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