Wrapping Serialized Array Elements with the Name of the Array

Question

Hello everyone,

I am using VSTS2008 + C# + .Net 3.0. I am using below code to serialize XML, and my object contains array type property, and I want to add an additional elements' layer ("MyInnerObjectProperties" element layer in my expected results below, and I want to make "MyInnerObjectProperties" element as parent element for all MyInnerObjectProperty element). Any ideas?

Current serialized XML,

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<MyClass xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <MyObjectProperty>
    <MyInnerObjectProperty>
      <ObjectName>Foo Type</ObjectName>
    </MyInnerObjectProperty>
    <MyInnerObjectProperty>
      <ObjectName>Goo Type</ObjectName>
    </MyInnerObjectProperty>
  </MyObjectProperty>
</MyClass>

Expected serialized XML,

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<MyClass xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <MyObjectProperty>
    <MyInnerObjectProperties>
      <MyInnerObjectProperty>
        <ObjectName>Foo Type</ObjectName>
      </MyInnerObjectProperty>
      <MyInnerObjectProperty>
        <ObjectName>Goo Type</ObjectName>
      </MyInnerObjectProperty>
    </MyInnerObjectProperties>
  </MyObjectProperty>
</MyClass>

Current code,

public class MyClass
{
    private MyObject[] _myObjectProperty;

    [XmlElement(IsNullable=false)]
    public MyObject[] MyObjectProperty
    {
        get
        {
            return _myObjectProperty;
        }
        set
        {
            _myObjectProperty = value;
        }
    }
}
public class MyObject
{
    private MyInnerObject[] _myInnerObjectProperty;

    [XmlElement(IsNullable = false)]
    public MyInnerObject[] MyInnerObjectProperty
    {
        get
        {
            return _myInnerObjectProperty;
        }
        set
        {
            _myInnerObjectProperty = value;
        }
    }
}

public class MyInnerObject
{
    public string ObjectName;
}

public class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyClass));
        FileStream fs = new FileStream("foo.xml", FileMode.Create);
        MyClass instance = new MyClass();
        instance.MyObjectProperty = new MyObject[1];
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0] = new MyObject();
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0].MyInnerObjectProperty = new MyInnerObject[2];
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0].MyInnerObjectProperty[0] = new MyInnerObject();
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0].MyInnerObjectProperty[0].ObjectName = "Foo Type";
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0].MyInnerObjectProperty[1] = new MyInnerObject();
        instance.MyObjectProperty[0].MyInnerObjectProperty[1].ObjectName = "Goo Type";

        s.Serialize(fs, instance);

        return;
    }
}

thanks in advance, George

Answer 1

make use of the XmlArrayItemAttribute

[XmlArray("MyInnerObjectProperties")]     
[XmlArrayItemAttribute("MyInnerObjectProperty", typeof(MyInnerObject),  IsNullable = false)]
public MyInnerObject[] MyInnerObjectProperty
{
   get
     {
         return _myInnerObjectProperty;
     }
   set
     {
        _myInnerObjectProperty = value;
     }
}

Answer 2

    ...
    [XmlArray(IsNullable = false)]
    [XmlArrayItem("MyInnerObjectProperties")]
    public MyObject[] MyObjectProperty
    {
        get
        {
            return _myObjectProperty;
        }
        set
        {
            _myObjectProperty = value;
        }
    }
    ...