How can I deserialize an array of strings with XmlSerializer?

Question

I'm trying to use XmlSerializer.Deserialize() for my XML file. This is the code:

private void LoadSceneDialogues()
{
    if (dialogueXML != null)
    {
        sceneDialogues = new Dictionary<int, Dialogue>();
        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Dialogue>), new XmlRootAttribute("Dialogues"));
        using (var reader = new StringReader(dialogueXML.text))
        {
            try
            {
                Debug.Log("Purely for Debugging1");
                var loadedData = (List<Dialogue>)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
                foreach (var data in loadedData)
                {

                    Debug.Log($"oID: {data.oID} name: {data.characterName}");
                    foreach (var sentence in data.sentences)
                    {
                        Debug.Log($"sentence: {sentence}");
                    }
                    Debug.Log($"sentences count: {data.sentences.Length}");
                    //Debug.Log($"sentences: {data.sentences}");
                    sceneDialogues.Add(data.oID, data);
                }
                if (sceneDialogues != null)
                {
                    Debug.Log("Purely for Debugging2");
                }
            }
            catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
            {
                Debug.LogError($"Error deserializing XML: {ex.Message}");
                Debug.Log($"Loaded XML data:\n{dialogueXML.text}");
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Debug.LogError("Dialogue XML file not assigned in DialogueManager!");
    }
}

This is dialogue class:

using UnityEngine;

[CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "NewDialogue", menuName = "Dialogue")]
public class Dialogue : ScriptableObject
{
    public string characterName; // 캐릭터 이름
    [TextArea(3, 20)]
    public string[] sentences; // 대화 내용
    public int oID = -1;
    public int nextoID = -1;
    public int animID = -1;
}

And this is a part of XML I'm using:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Dialogues>
   <Dialogue>
      <oID>0</oID>
      <nextoID>-1</nextoID>
      <animID>0</animID>
      <characterName>a</characterName>
      <sentences>
         <sentence>god...</sentence>
         <sentence>wtf?</sentence>
      </sentences>
   </Dialogue>
</Dialogues>

Others work fine, except for sentences. The array I get from this dialogue object is empty, while the others like "oid" is as they should. I think that's because "sentences" is nested one, but I have 0 idea how to handle this properly.

Did some logs and found out dialogue.sentences is empty, while others not. I want to modify current code so it handles sentences properly.

Answer 1

Update the dialog sentences property to be an XMLArrayItem with the element name of 'sentence':

    public class Dialogue : ScriptableObject
{
    public string characterName; // 캐릭터 이름 
  
    [XmlArrayItem(ElementName="sentence")]
    public List<string> Sentences{ get; set; }

    public int oID = -1;
    public int nextoID = -1;
    public int animID = -1;
}