C# code generation with xsd.exe "how to ?"

[Marek]

Actually, the very first question I should ask is "does it make sense at
all?".
For 2 days I've been trying to generate C# classes using XML schema and
xsd.exe tool. So far the results are not exciting but I assume I am
seriously short of knowledge, so here I am - asking for help. My current
situation is that I can define schemas that will generate very simple
classes but I have two major problems:

(1) I do not know how to write a schema, so that my classes can get
properties with skeletons for getter and setter, as opposed to public fields
? Right now, for every generated class, all the attributes defined in xsd,
get converted into public fields, not properties.

(2) How to write a schema to get class structure that exposes inheritance
and incorporates interfaces ?
I try to use "complexContent " with "extension" and "base" attributes but
when compiling the schema with xsd.exe I am getting different kind of errors
(i.e. "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements with complex
type were found" or "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements
with complex type were found" ). I even tried to compile an example from
MSDN (Person->ExtendedPerson ) but no success at all...

My friend is strongly advocating gsl-gen (a third-party code generator) but
I would really like to be able getting that work done using .net
infrastructure, without any additional pieces.
I would appreciate any useful hints, especially some exmaples for my two
problems that I mentioned above. Thank you very much,

Marek

[Dino Chiesa [Microsoft]]

"Marek" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:Km******** *************@n ews20.bellgloba l.com...

Actually, the very first question I should ask is "does it make sense at
all?".
For 2 days I've been trying to generate C# classes using XML schema and
xsd.exe tool. So far the results are not exciting but I assume I am
seriously short of knowledge, so here I am - asking for help. My current
situation is that I can define schemas that will generate very simple
classes but I have two major problems:

(1) I do not know how to write a schema, so that my classes can get
properties with skeletons for getter and setter, as opposed to public fields ? Right now, for every generated class, all the attributes defined in xsd,
get converted into public fields, not properties.

xsd.exe generates public fields. If you like you can take the generated
code and modify it. For example,
http://www.winisp.net/cheeso/srcview...file=Morpho.cs
You can also try XsdObjectGen - see
http://hyperthink.net/blog/default,date,2004-04-29.aspx

(2) How to write a schema to get class structure that exposes inheritance
and incorporates interfaces ?
I try to use "complexContent " with "extension" and "base" attributes but
when compiling the schema with xsd.exe I am getting different kind of errors (i.e. "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements with complex
type were found" or "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements with complex type were found" ). I even tried to compile an example from
MSDN (Person->ExtendedPerson ) but no success at all...

Why don't you try going the other direction? Build your object class, then
run xsd.exe on the resulting assembly (dll or exe or ..) and then examine
the inferred schema.

My friend is strongly advocating gsl-gen (a third-party code generator) but I would really like to be able getting that work done using .net
infrastructure, without any additional pieces.
I would appreciate any useful hints, especially some exmaples for my two
problems that I mentioned above. Thank you very much,

Marek

[Daniel Cazzulino [MVP XML]]

1) You don't need to use third party software to get public properties or
strong typed collections instead of arrays. Check the article titled Code
Generation in the .NET Framework Using XML Schema on MSDN
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/defaul...s/dnxmlnet/htm
l/xsdcodegen.asp) .
Another quick trick you can use is this:
http://weblogs.asp.net/cazzu/archive.../26/25460.aspx

2) In order to get classes that inherit from others, you have to create
complex types that act as the base type for others. For example, you have to
define a Person complex type, and make the ExtendedPerson complex type
inherit from it. You'll get two classes, the later inheriting the former.

--
Daniel Cazzulino [MVP XML]
Clarius Consulting SA
http://weblogs.asp.net/cazzu
http://aspnet2.com
"Marek" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:Km******** *************@n ews20.bellgloba l.com...

Actually, the very first question I should ask is "does it make sense at
all?".
For 2 days I've been trying to generate C# classes using XML schema and
xsd.exe tool. So far the results are not exciting but I assume I am
seriously short of knowledge, so here I am - asking for help. My current
situation is that I can define schemas that will generate very simple
classes but I have two major problems:

(1) I do not know how to write a schema, so that my classes can get
properties with skeletons for getter and setter, as opposed to public fields ? Right now, for every generated class, all the attributes defined in xsd,
get converted into public fields, not properties.

(2) How to write a schema to get class structure that exposes inheritance
and incorporates interfaces ?
I try to use "complexContent " with "extension" and "base" attributes but
when compiling the schema with xsd.exe I am getting different kind of errors (i.e. "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements with complex
type were found" or "cannot generate classes because no top-level elements with complex type were found" ). I even tried to compile an example from
MSDN (Person->ExtendedPerson ) but no success at all...

My friend is strongly advocating gsl-gen (a third-party code generator) but I would really like to be able getting that work done using .net
infrastructure, without any additional pieces.
I would appreciate any useful hints, especially some exmaples for my two
problems that I mentioned above. Thank you very much,

Marek

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