Easy way to convert a Dictionary<string, string> to xml and vice versa

Dictionary to Element:

Dictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string,string>();
XElement el = new XElement("root",
    dict.Select(kv => new XElement(kv.Key, kv.Value)));

Element to Dictionary:

XElement rootElement = XElement.Parse("<root><key>value</key></root>");
Dictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();
foreach(var el in rootElement.Elements())
{
   dict.Add(el.Name.LocalName, el.Value);
}

You can use DataContractSerializer. Code below.

    public static string SerializeDict()
    {
        IDictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();
        dict["key"] = "value1";
        dict["key2"] = "value2";
        // serialize the dictionary
        DataContractSerializer serializer = new DataContractSerializer(dict.GetType());

        using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
        {
            using (XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter(sw))
            {
                // add formatting so the XML is easy to read in the log
                writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;

                serializer.WriteObject(writer, dict);

                writer.Flush();

                return sw.ToString();
            }
        }
    }

Just use this for XML to Dictionary:

     public static Dictionary<string, string> XmlToDictionary
                                        (string key, string value, XElement baseElm)
        {
            Dictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();

            foreach (XElement elm in baseElm.Elements())
            { 
                string dictKey = elm.Attribute(key).Value;
                string dictVal = elm.Attribute(value).Value;

                dict.Add(dictKey, dictVal);

            }

            return dict;
        }

Dictionary to XML:

 public static XElement DictToXml
                  (Dictionary<string, string> inputDict, string elmName, string valuesName)
        {

            XElement outElm = new XElement(elmName);

            Dictionary<string, string>.KeyCollection keys = inputDict.Keys;

            XElement inner = new XElement(valuesName);

            foreach (string key in keys)
            {
                inner.Add(new XAttribute("key", key));
                inner.Add(new XAttribute("value", inputDict[key]));
            }

            outElm.Add(inner);

            return outElm;
        }

The XML:

<root>
  <UserTypes>
    <Type key="Administrator" value="A"/>
    <Type key="Affiliate" value="R" />
    <Type key="Sales" value="S" />
  </UserTypes>
</root>

You just pass the element UserTypes to that method and voila you get a dictionary with the coresponding keys and values and vice versa. After converting a dictionary append the element to XDocument object and save it on the disk.