CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netxml-serialization
user580735
user580735

Reputation: 31

Using a WCF hosted xml serialized object, how do change the order of the xml nodes when using XmlSerializer on the object

If I have an object like so:

[XmlRoot("Person")]
public class Person
{
   [XmlElement("LastName")]
   public string Last {get;set;}

   [XmlElement("FirstName")]
   public string First {get;set;}

   [XmlElement("Banners")]
   public List<Banner> Banners {get;set;}
}

[XmlType("Banner")]
public class Banner
{
    [XmlElement("Title")]
    public string Title {get;set;}

    [XmlElement("Location")]
    public string Location {get;set;}
}

When serializing it locally, it turns out to look ok

<Person>
   <LastName/>
   <FirstName/>
   <Banners>
       <Banner>
          <Title/>
          <Location/>
       </Banner>
    </Banners>
 </Person>

But if create a library and host it from a WCF IIS service, and I want to use it from a client application, when I access the Person object, fill it with my parameters and then serialize it to an xml string I get this:

<Person>
   <Banners>
       <Banner>
          <Location/>
          <Title/>
       </Banner>
    </Banners>
   <FirstName/>
   <LastName/>
</Person>

all the nodes are shown in alphabetical, per level after the root. I have tried using the Order keyword in the XmlElement Attribute, but it doesn't see it apparantly.

Now if I use the object locally and serialize it, then it adheres to the Order keyword. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Upvotes: 2

Views: 274

Answers (1)

Max
Max

Reputation: 3380

Is XmlSerializer mandatory?

WCF is using the DataContractSerializer by default.

So I would switch to that.

The attribute is DataMember - instead of XmlElement.

With DataMember you can add an order value, that will be honored by the DataContract Serializer.

[DataMember(Order = 0)]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[DataMember(Order = 1)]
public string LastName { get; set; }
[DataMember(Order = 2)]
public string Email { get; set; }
[DataMember(Order = 3)]
public string Password { get; set; }

Upvotes: 1

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