deserializing xml to generic collection problem

[DimkaNewtown]

I have a set of data returning from a stored proc that needs to be deserialized to a generic collection, and I'm stumped.

 

the xml is of the form

<Countries>
 <Country countrycode="" countryname="">
 <Country countrycode="" countryname="">
<Countries>

 

the class looks like this

  [serializable]
   public class Country
   {
       string _code;
       string _name;

       public Country()
       {
           _code = String.Empty;
           _name = String.Empty;
       }
       public Country( string CountryCode, string CountryName )
       {
           _code = CountryCode;
           _name = CountryName;
       }

       public string CountryCode
       {
           get { return _code; }
           set { _code = value; }
       }

       public string CountryName
       {
           get { return _name; }
           set { _name = value; }
       }
   }

 

now I can deserialize a single object correctly to a class but with a generic collection the code doesn't work, i get a "<Countries xmlns=''> was not expected." error.

 

Any ideas? Of course I could load the xmlDocument and go throw each Country element in a loop and serialized them one by one while adding them to a generic collection but that kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

 

Edit: forgot deserialization code

     public static T DeserializeObject<T>(string targetXml)
       {
           XmlSerializer s = null;
           StringReader sr = null;
           XmlTextReader xtr = null;
           try
           {
               sr = new StringReader(targetXml);
               xtr = new XmlTextReader(sr);
               s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
               

               if (s.CanDeserialize(xtr))
                   return (T)s.Deserialize(xtr);
               else
                   throw new Exception();
           }
           catch (Exception ex)
           {
               throw ex;
           }
           finally
           {
               s = null;
               if (sr != null)
                   sr.Close();
               sr = null;
               if (xtr != null)
                   xtr.Close();
               xtr = null;
           }
       }

Edited February 8, 2006 by DimkaNewtown

[Diesel]

Might help - http://www.mcse.ms/archive111-2004-7-868750.html

[Cags]

I'd create a custom typed array, that should solve the problem.