XmlSerializer with parameterless constructor with no public properties or fields... Is it possible?

Question

Having the following class (.Net 3.5):

public class Something
{
    public string Text {get; private set;}

    private Something()
    {
        Text = string.Empty;
    }

    public Something(string text)
    {
        Text = text;
    }
}

This serializes without error but the resulting XML does not include the Text property since it does not have a public setter.

Is there a way (the simpler, the better) to have the XmlSerializer include those properties?

Answer 1

No. XML Serialization will only serialized public read/write fields and properties of objects.

Answer 2

XmlSerializer only cares about public read/write members. One option is to implement IXmlSerializable, but that is a lot of work. A more practical option (if available and suitable) may be to use DataContractSerializer:

[DataContract]
public class Something
{
    [DataMember]
    public string Text {get; private set;}

    private Something()
    {
        Text = string.Empty;
    }

    public Something(string text)
    {
        Text = text;
    }
}

This works on both public and private members, but the xml produced is not quite the same, and you can't specify xml attributes.