Using Visual Studio 2012 or newer you can just ‘Special Paste’ your XML file as C# classes.
Three Simple Steps
- Copy your XML file’s content to the clipboard
- In the editor, select the place where you want your classes to be pasted
- From the menu, select EDIT > Paste Special > Paste XML As Classes
Video and Illustration
Visual Studio – Special Paste
Examples from the Video
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <friends xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/outlook/2010/06/socialprovider.xsd"> <person> <userID>7647</userID> <firstName>John</firstName> <lastName>Doe</lastName> <company>My Test Company</company> <title>Product Manager</title> <anniversary>2005-05-17</anniversary> <birthday>1979-08-09</birthday> <emailAddress>john.doe@MyTestCompany.com</emailAddress> <emailAddress2>john.doe@test.com</emailAddress2> <phone>800-555-1212</phone> <cell>888-555-1212</cell> <workPhone>425-555-1212</workPhone> <creationTime>2022-01-08T08:30:20-07:00</creationTime> <expirationTime>2022-01-09T11:40:14-07:00</expirationTime> <gender>female</gender> </person> <person> <userID>5012</userID> <firstName>Mikle</firstName> <lastName>Affronti</lastName> <fileAs>Affronti, Michael (Contoso Ltd.)</fileAs> <company>My Test Company 2</company> <title>Sales Director</title> <anniversary>2009-06-21</anniversary> <birthday>1980-09-10</birthday> <emailAddress>michael@contoso.com</emailAddress> <emailAddress2>michael@fabrikam.com</emailAddress2> <emailAddress3>michael@adventureworks.com</emailAddress3> <phone>800-555-1212</phone> <cell>888-555-1212</cell> <workPhone>425-555-1212</workPhone> <creationTime>2010-01-08T08:30:20-08:00</creationTime> <expirationTime>2010-01-09T11:40:14-08:00</expirationTime> <gender>male</gender> </person> </friends>
Read also how to generate a C# class from JSON in Visual Studio.