CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netxmlxml-serializationxmlserializerserializable
Shimmy Weitzhandler
Shimmy Weitzhandler

Reputation: 104741

Serialze class as single attribute-less element with its content set to one property

I want to serialize/deserialize the following types:

// The "NameEntity" element shouldn't appear in the XML
public class NameEntity
{
    [XmlElement("name")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

[XmlRoot("names")]
public class Names : List<NameEntity>
{
}

I want the serialized XML to match the following scheme:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<names>
  <name>Charlie</name>
  <name>Robert</name>
  <name>Nick</name>
</names>

In fact, the output XML is:

<names>
  <NameEntity>
    <name>Charlie</name>
  </NameEntity>
  ...
</names>

Is this possible with one of the XML attributes in .NET or I'll have to implement IXmlSerializable?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 72

Answers (1)

Austin Salonen
Austin Salonen

Reputation: 50225

You need a mixture of the XmlType Attribute and the XmlText Attribute like so...

// The "NameEntity" element shouldn't appear in the XML
[XmlType("name")]
public class NameEntity
{
    [XmlText]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

[XmlRoot("names")]
public class Names : List<NameEntity>
{
}

public class SO
{
    [Test]
    public void NameEntitySerialization()
    {
        var name = new NameEntity() { Name = "Austin" };

        var serialized = <YOUR SERIALIZATION CODE HERE>
        Console.WriteLine(serialized);
        Assert.AreEqual("<name>Austin</name>", serialized);
    }

    [Test]
    public void ListSerialization()
    {
        var names = new Names();
        names.Add(new NameEntity() {Name = "Austin"});

        var serialized = <YOUR SERIALIZATION CODE HERE>
        Console.WriteLine(serialized);
        Assert.AreEqual("<names>\r\n  <name>Austin</name>\r\n</names>",
          serialized);
    }
}

Upvotes: 2

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