XML Serialization and namespace prefixes

Question

I'm looking for a way with C# which I can serialize a class into XML and add a namespace, but define the prefix which that namespace will use.

Ultimately I'm trying to generate the following XML:

<myNamespace:Node xmlns:myNamespace="...">
  <childNode>something in here</childNode>
</myNamespace:Node>

I know with both the DataContractSerializer and the XmlSerializer I can add a namespace, but they seem to generate a prefix internally, with something that I'm not able to control. Am I able to control it with either of these serializers (I can use either of them)?

If I'm not able to control the generation of the namespaces will I need to write my own XML serializer, and if so, what's the best one to write it for?

Answer 1

To control the namespace alias, use XmlSerializerNamespaces.

[XmlRoot("Node", Namespace="http://flibble")]
public class MyType {
    [XmlElement("chileNode")]
    public string Value { get; set; }
}

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
        ns.Add("myNamespace", "http://flibble");
        XmlSerializer xser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyType));
        xser.Serialize(Console.Out, new MyType(), ns);
    }
}

If you need to change the namespace at runtime, you can additionally use XmlAttributeOverrides.