Need to get a boolean value from XML using DataContractSerializer's ReadObject() method

Question

I have a simple XML document that I want to read into an object using the DataContractSerializer in .NET.

<Person> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <Name>John Smith</Name> </Person>

When I read the object, the Enabled field is always false even though the node value is "true." How does one define XML that will probably deserialize into a boolean true when ReadObject() is called?

Answer 1

It all depends on how you define your class. If you define it as follows, it should read correctly.

public class StackOverflow_8012009
{
    const string XML = "<Person><Enabled>true</Enabled><Name>John Smith</Name></Person>";
    [DataContract(Namespace = "", Name = "Person")]
    public class Person
    {
        [DataMember]
        public bool Enabled { get; set; }
        [DataMember]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return string.Format("Person[Enabled={0},Name={1}]", this.Enabled, this.Name);
        }
    }
    public static void Test()
    {
        DataContractSerializer dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Person));
        MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(XML));
        object obj = dcs.ReadObject(ms);
        Console.WriteLine(obj);
    }
}