Using XmlSerializer to serialize derived classes

by

There are three ways of doing this; either you can use [XmlInclude] against the type, or you can use XmlElement/XmlArrayItem against the property. They are all shown below; uncomment the pair you prefer:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
public class MyWrapper {
    //2: [XmlElement("A", Type = typeof(ChildA))]
    //2: [XmlElement("B", Type = typeof(ChildB))]
    //3: [XmlArrayItem("A", Type = typeof(ChildA))]
    //3: [XmlArrayItem("B", Type = typeof(ChildB))]
    public List<ChildClass> Data { get; set; }
}
//1: [XmlInclude(typeof(ChildA))]
//1: [XmlInclude(typeof(ChildB))]
public abstract class ChildClass {
    public string ChildProp { get; set; }
}
public class ChildA : ChildClass {
    public string AProp { get; set; }
}
public class ChildB : ChildClass {
    public string BProp { get; set; }
}
static class Program {
    static void Main() {
        var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyWrapper));
        var obj = new MyWrapper {
            Data = new List<ChildClass> {
                new ChildA { ChildProp = "abc", AProp = "def"},
                new ChildB { ChildProp = "ghi", BProp = "jkl"}}
        };
        ser.Serialize(Console.Out, obj);
    }
}

More Related Contents:

  1. Why XML-Serializable class need a parameterless constructor
  2. Convert XML String to Object
  3. Using StringWriter for XML Serialization
  4. {” was not expected.} Deserializing Twitter XML
  5. XML Serialize generic list of serializable objects
  6. Most elegant XML serialization of Color structure
  7. Why are properties without a setter not serialized
  8. XML Serialization and Inherited Types
  9. .NET XML serialization gotchas? [closed]
  10. Serializing an object as UTF-8 XML in .NET
  11. Force XmlSerializer to serialize DateTime as ‘YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss’
  12. Why isn’t my public property serialized by the XmlSerializer?
  13. How to add XmlInclude attribute dynamically
  14. Serialize a Bitmap in C#/.NET to XML
  15. XmlSerializer serialize generic List of interface
  16. Why doesn’t the XmlSerializer need the type to be marked [Serializable]?
  17. How can I serialize internal classes using XmlSerializer?
  18. Conditional xml serialization
  19. XmlSerialize a custom collection with an Attribute
  20. using XmlArrayItem attribute without XmlArray on Serializable C# class
  21. Checking if an object is a number
  22. Ignore a property during xml serialization but not during deserialization
  23. XML Serialization question – How to Serialize Element, Attribute and Text from One Object
  24. How can I transform XML into a List or String[]?
  25. Using DataContractSerializer to serialize, but can’t deserialize back
  26. Is there a reason why a base class decorated with XmlInclude would still throw a type unknown exception when serialized?
  27. How do you use XMLSerialize for Enum typed properties in c#?
  28. How can I convert a DataTable to an XML file in C#?
  29. C# Xml Serialization & Deserialization
  30. Prevent timezone conversion on deserialization of DateTime value

Leave a Comment