Applied XML Programming for Microsoft® .NET

Shaping the XML Output

XML serialization enables you to shape the final form of the XML data being created. Although the code of the class is not directly involved in the generation of the output, the programmer is given a couple of tools to significantly influence the serialization process.

The first approach is fairly static and works by setting attributes on the various members of the class to be serialized. According to the attribute set, a given member can be rendered as an attribute, an element, or plain text, or it can be ignored altogether. The second approach is more dynamic and, more importantly, does not require the availability of the class source code. This approach is particularly effective for achieving a rather odd yet realistic ...