C#/.NET XML Serializer - using a property as element name

Question

Warning -- I'm not an xml guru.

Here is what I have:

<Fields>
  <Field name="BusinessName" look-up="true">My Business</Field>
  <Field name="BusinessType" look-up="false">Nobody really knows!</Field>
</Fields>

This maps back to:

[XmlArrayItem(ElementName = "Field")]
public List<UserInfoField> Fields;

and

[Serializable, XmlRoot("Field")]
public class UserInfoField
{
    [XmlAttributeAttribute("name")]
    public string Name;

    [XmlText]
    public string Value;

    [XmlAttributeAttribute("look-up")]
    public bool LookUp;
}

Is there anyway to get this serialize output instead:

<Fields>
  <BusinessName look-up="true">My Business</BusinessName>
  <BusinessType look-up="false">Nobody really knows!</BusinessType>
</Fields>

I understand that this might be overly magical and can imagine there is a good reason this shouldn't work ... but I figure it might and this is a good place to ask :)

jro · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-29 23:04:33Z

3

The XmlSerializer (well, all Framework serializers actually) natively serialize types, not names. The attribution decorators let you get in front of that a bit with names, but those are static run-time lookups, so they don't permit you to interject into the serialization process using that structure.

Instead, what you want to do is write your own serialization routine. This will permit you to override the node naming sequence you want -- essentially interjecting the property of the Name field as your node name. You're interested in implementing the IXmlSerializable interface. Keep in mind this has consequences in dealing with deserialization as well.

answered Jan 29, 2010 at 23:04

jro

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2 Comments

Gustavo Cardoso Over a year ago

It isn't correct, you do can overwrite the element's name using the attribute [XmlArrayItem]

jro Over a year ago

You cannot override the element name dynamically using the XmlSerializer as is. You can statically define it, but this case calls for a name that's based on the data value. Please revise or delete your comment, it's inaccurate.

Gustavo Cardoso · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-20 21:40:15Z

0

You can use both the [XmlArray] and [XmlArrayItem] and attribute, as it is said here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2baksw0z(v=vs.71).aspx

[XmlArray("Fields")]
[XmlArrayItem("Field")]
public List<UserInfoField> Fields;

However, I would suggest you to serialize arroung the root level:

<root>
  <Fields>
    <Field name="BusinessName" look-up="true">My Business</Field>
    <Field name="BusinessType" look-up="false">Nobody really knows!</Field>
  </Fields>
</root>

So you will have a main class with the root and the list and another class for the element:

[Serializable, XmlRoot("Root")]
public class Fields
{

    [XmlArray("Fields")]
    [XmlArrayItem(ElementName = "Field")]
    public List<UserInfoField> Fields;
}

[Serializable, XmlRoot("Field")]
public class UserInfoField
{
    [XmlAttributeAttribute("name")]
    public string Name;

    [XmlText]
    public string Value;

    [XmlAttributeAttribute("look-up")]
    public bool LookUp;
}

answered Mar 20, 2013 at 21:40

Gustavo Cardoso

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2 Comments

jro Over a year ago

This does not produce the OP's intended serialized output.

p0lar_bear Over a year ago

The OP is looking to have each <Field> element have a tag name besides "Field" based on the property values of each item in the list. This method does not produce the output the OP is asking for.

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