How to change name of the root element with IXmlSerializable?

Question

I have the snippet of code below that the serialize a simple instance of a classPerson to <Person attribute="value" /> using IXmlSerializable:

using System;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Schema;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

public class Person : IXmlSerializable
{
    public XmlSchema GetSchema()
    {
        return null;
    }
    public void ReadXml(XmlReader xmlReader)
    {
        throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }
    public void WriteXml(XmlWriter xmlWriter)
    {
        xmlWriter.WriteAttributeString("attribute", "value");
    }
}

class Program
{    
    public static void Main()
    {
        var xmlWriterSettings = new XmlWriterSettings
        {
            Indent = true,
            OmitXmlDeclaration = true
        };

        using (var xmlTextWriter = XmlWriter.Create(Console.Out, xmlWriterSettings))
        {
            var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));
            var person = new Person();
            xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlTextWriter, person);
        }
    }
}

I am looking for a way to modify the element name of Person to person, how can I do that?

I've modified your question just a bit, to add `using` directives, put `Do` within a class and rename it to `Main` - this way anyone can copy/paste/compile/run. Hope that's okay with you. — Jon Skeet, Aug 09 '18 at 21:16
I believe that the answer to [How can I control the root element namespace and name when serializing an IXmlSerializable object with the data contract serializer?](https://stackoverflow.com/a/47861221/3744182) also applies to `XmlSerializer`. — dbc, Aug 10 '18 at 03:20
If you really care about controlling the root namespace **prefix** (and not just the root namespace) then you may not be able to control it via `XmlSerializer` attributes, see [Namespace Prefixes with IXmlSerializable](https://stackoverflow.com/q/7575218) and [How to add namespace prefix for IXmlSerializable type](https://stackoverflow.com/q/51590112) which have no accepted answers. — dbc, Aug 10 '18 at 03:32

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 09 '18 at 21:14

2

You can use XmlRootAttribute to specify the element name for the root element:

[XmlRoot(ElementName = "person")]
public class Person : IXmlSerializable
{
    ...
}

answered Aug 09 '18 at 21:14

Jon Skeet

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Do you know how a prefixed namespace can then be added, also with this kind of attribute even if using IXmlSerializable? – Natalie Perret Aug 09 '18 at 21:15
1

@EhouarnPerret: You can specify the namespace for the element in the attribute as well. I'm not sure about how to give it a specific prefix - it's probably worth asking that in a different question (after researching, of course). – Jon Skeet Aug 09 '18 at 21:18
About the prefix it seems that every question I've seen so far have not found any working solutions – Natalie Perret Aug 09 '18 at 21:29
1

@EhouarnPerret: Okay, if there are duplicate questions without answers, that suggests it may not be possible. (I'm not quite sure what you're looking for to be honest, and I'm not an XML serialization expert either.) – Jon Skeet Aug 09 '18 at 21:30

How to change name of the root element with IXmlSerializable?

1 Answers1