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c#serializationxml-serialization
Thierry
Thierry

Reputation: 6458

Serialize 2 properties with the same name but different attributes

I'm getting an error when I try to serialize my class. The xml schema is defined by a third-party and I can't change it.

The xml looks like this (snippet only btw):

<order>
<date type="received-date">20160810</date>
<date type="required-date">20160810</date>
<reference type="cust-order-no">CCCC</reference>
<reference type="an-2">AAAA</reference>
<reference type="an-3">BBBB</reference>
<order>

I've defined the following class for my order date

[Serializable]
public class OrderDate
{
    public enum OrderDateTypeEnum
    {
        [Description("entered-date")]
        EnteredDate,
        [Description("received-date")]
        ReceivedDate,
        [Description("required-date")]
        RequiredDate
    }

    private OrderDateTypeEnum _typeEnum;

    [XmlIgnore]
    public OrderDateTypeEnum TypeEnum
    {
        get { return this._typeEnum; }
        set
        {
            this._typeEnum = value;
            this.Type = this._typeEnum.GetDescription();
        }
    }

    [XmlAttribute("type")]
    public string Type { get; set; }

    [XmlText]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

and the order class is defined as:

[Serializable]
public class Order
{
    [XmlElement("date")]
    public OrderDate EnteredDate { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("date")]
    public OrderDate ReceivedDate { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("date")]
    public OrderDate RequiredDate { get; set; }
}

but when I serialize this, I get an error:

The XML element 'date' from namespace '' is already present in the current
scope. Use XML attributes to specify another XML name or namespace for the
element.

When I remove the [XmlElement("date")], it works but my xml is not formatted the way I needed it to.

I'll have the exact same problem with reference when I get to it.

How can I circumvent this problem?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1808

Answers (1)

Charles Mager
Charles Mager

Reputation: 26213

You can't do this and map to Order as you've defined it without implementing IXmlSerializable yourself. What you can do is use a single List<OrderDate> property:

[XmlRoot("order")]
public class Order
{
    [XmlElement("date")]
    public List<OrderDate> Dates { get; set; }
}

See this fiddle for a working demo. You could add various (ignored) properties to query the dates for each type if you wished.

As an aside, the [Serializable] attribute has nothing to do with XmlSerializer and can be removed.

Upvotes: 1

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