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DotNet Serializer for GLDF

· 3 min read
Alex Kurpanik
Alex Kurpanik
Developer DIAL GmbH

The GLDF.NET Parser - a GLDF XML serializer and deserializer for DotNet - is available now for GLDF 1.0.0-rc.1. In this blog post you will find a quick introduction and overview of its usage.

What is it​

GLFD.NET ist a DotNet (Standard 2.0) library for the Global Lighting Data Format with the following features:

  • Serialize and deserialize GLDF XML from and into typed objetcs
  • 100% format coverage
  • Validate GLDF XML with the GLDF XmlSchema (XSD)
  • Read and write .gldf container files, including all assets and signature file
  • Validate .gldf container files
  • No dependencies, small footprint (~400kb)
  • Windows & Unix compatible

What changed in v0.5​

As you may already know, we've release GLDF 1.0.0-rc.1 a few day ago. The update of GLDF.NET to version v0.5.0 covers all changes and additional ones of version GLDF 0.9.0-beta.9. You can find a detailed changelog always on our release page on Github

Where can I get it​

To download GLDF.NET simply use our Nuget package published on nuget.org

tip

GLDF.Net on nuget.org

How can I use it​

First, install GLDF.Net into your DotNet project

dotnet add package GLDF.Net

Serialisation​

To serialize a DotNet object of type Root into XML, use the SerializeToString(Root root) method like this

var serializer = new GldfXmlSerializer();
// ignore incomplete Root object for now
var root = new Root {Header = new Header {Author = "Blog Example"}};
var xml = serializer.SerializeToString(root);

And if you would like to serialize a DotNet object of type Root directly into a .xml file, use SerializeToFile(Root root, string filePath)

var serializer = new GldfXmlSerializer();
// ignore incomplete Root object for now
var root = new Root {Header = new Header {Author = "Blog Example"}};
serializer.SerializeToFile(root, @"c:\some\file\path\luminaire.xml");

Deserialisation​

To deserialize GLDF XML back into a DotNet object, use the DeserializeFromString(string xml) method like this

var serializer = new GldfXmlSerializer();
var xml = @"<Root><Header><Author>Blog Example</Author></Header></Root>";
Root root = serializer.DeserializeFromString(xml);

Or to deserialize a GLDF .xml file into a DotNet object, use the DeserializeFromFile(string filePath) method like this

var serializer = new GldfXmlSerializer();
var filePath = @"c:\some\file\path\luminaire.xml";
Root root = serializer.DeserializeFromFile(filePath);

Serialisation options​

If required, you can set some XML setting as well. For all options see MSDN api/xmlwritersettings

XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
settings.Encoding = Encoding.UTF32; // UTF-8 by default
settings.Indent = false; // true by default
var serializer = new GldfXmlSerializer(settings);

More examples​

tip

More examples for XML validation and reading and writing GLDF container files can be found in our GLDF.NET Github repository.