System.Xml.Serialization Namespace

Contains classes that are used to serialize objects into XML format documents or streams.

Classes

CodeIdentifier	Provides static methods to convert input text into names for code entities.
CodeIdentifiers	Maintains a group of names for related code entities or type mappings that are generated by .NET's XML serialization infrastructure.
ImportContext	Describes the context in which a set of schema is bound to .NET code entities.
SchemaImporter	Describes a schema importer.
SoapAttributeAttribute	Specifies that the XmlSerializer must serialize the class member as an encoded SOAP attribute.
SoapAttributeOverrides	Allows you to override attributes applied to properties, fields, and classes when you use an XmlSerializer to serialize or deserialize an object as encoded SOAP.
SoapAttributes	Represents a collection of attribute objects that control how the XmlSerializer serializes and deserializes SOAP methods.
SoapElementAttribute	Specifies that the public member value be serialized by the XmlSerializer as an encoded SOAP XML element.
SoapEnumAttribute	Controls how the XmlSerializer serializes an enumeration member.
SoapIgnoreAttribute	Instructs the XmlSerializer not to serialize the public field or public read/write property value.
SoapIncludeAttribute	Allows the XmlSerializer to recognize a type when it serializes or deserializes an object as encoded SOAP XML.
SoapReflectionImporter	Generates mappings to SOAP-encoded messages from .NET types or Web service method information.
SoapSchemaMember	Represents certain attributes of a XSD <part> element in a WSDL document for generating classes from the document.
SoapTypeAttribute	Controls the schema generated by the XmlSerializer when a class instance is serialized as SOAP encoded XML.
UnreferencedObjectEventArgs	Provides data for the known, but unreferenced, object found in an encoded SOAP XML stream during deserialization.
XmlAnyAttributeAttribute	Specifies that the member (a field that returns an array of XmlAttribute objects) can contain any XML attributes.
XmlAnyElementAttribute	Specifies that the member (a field that returns an array of XmlElement or XmlNode objects) contains objects that represent any XML element that has no corresponding member in the object being serialized or deserialized.
XmlAnyElementAttributes	Represents a collection of XmlAnyElementAttribute objects.
XmlArrayAttribute	Specifies that the XmlSerializer must serialize a particular class member as an array of XML elements.
XmlArrayItemAttribute	Represents an attribute that specifies the derived types that the XmlSerializer can place in a serialized array.
XmlArrayItemAttributes	Represents a collection of XmlArrayItemAttribute objects.
XmlAttributeAttribute	Specifies that the XmlSerializer must serialize the class member as an XML attribute.
XmlAttributeEventArgs	Provides data for the UnknownAttribute event.
XmlAttributeOverrides	Allows you to override property, field, and class attributes when you use the XmlSerializer to serialize or deserialize an object.
XmlAttributes	Represents a collection of attribute objects that control how the XmlSerializer serializes and deserializes an object.
XmlChoiceIdentifierAttribute	Specifies that the member can be further detected by using an enumeration.
XmlElementAttribute	Indicates that a public field or property represents an XML element when the XmlSerializer serializes or deserializes the object that contains it.
XmlElementAttributes	Represents a collection of XmlElementAttribute objects used by the XmlSerializer to override the default way it serializes a class.
XmlElementEventArgs	Provides data for the UnknownElement event.
XmlEnumAttribute	Controls how the XmlSerializer serializes an enumeration member.
XmlIgnoreAttribute	Instructs the Serialize(TextWriter, Object) method of the XmlSerializer not to serialize the public field or public read/write property value.
XmlIncludeAttribute	Allows the XmlSerializer to recognize a type when it serializes or deserializes an object.
XmlMapping	Supports mappings between .NET types and XML Schema data types.
XmlMemberMapping	Maps a code entity in a .NET Web service method to an element in a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) message.
XmlMembersMapping	Provides mappings between .NET Web service methods and Web Services Description Language (WSDL) messages that are defined for SOAP Web services.
XmlNamespaceDeclarationsAttribute	Specifies that the target property, parameter, return value, or class member contains prefixes associated with namespaces that are used within an XML document.
XmlNodeEventArgs	Provides data for the UnknownNode event.
XmlReflectionImporter	Generates mappings to XML schema element declarations, including literal XML Schema Definition (XSD) message parts in a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) document, for .NET types or Web service method information.
XmlReflectionMember	Provides mappings between code entities in .NET Web service methods and the content of Web Services Description Language (WSDL) messages that are defined for SOAP Web services.
XmlRootAttribute	Controls XML serialization of the attribute target as an XML root element.
XmlSchemaEnumerator	Enables iteration over a collection of XmlSchema objects.
XmlSchemaExporter	Populates XmlSchema objects with XML schema element declarations that are found in type mapping objects.
XmlSchemaImporter	Generates internal mappings to .NET types for XML schema element declarations, including literal XSD message parts in a WSDL document.
XmlSchemaProviderAttribute	When applied to a type, stores the name of a static method of the type that returns an XML schema and a XmlQualifiedName (or XmlSchemaType for anonymous types) that controls the serialization of the type.
XmlSchemas	Represents the collection of XML schemas.
XmlSerializationGeneratedCode	An abstract class that is the base class for XmlSerializationReader and XmlSerializationWriter and that contains methods common to both of these types.
XmlSerializationReader	Controls deserialization by the XmlSerializer class.
XmlSerializationReader.CollectionFixup	Holds an XmlSerializationCollectionFixupCallback delegate instance, plus the method's inputs; also supplies the method's parameters.
XmlSerializationReader.Fixup	Holds an XmlSerializationFixupCallback delegate instance, plus the method's inputs; also serves as the parameter for the method.
XmlSerializationWriter	Represents an abstract class used for controlling serialization by the XmlSerializer class.
XmlSerializer	Serializes and deserializes objects into and from XML documents. The XmlSerializer enables you to control how objects are encoded into XML.
XmlSerializerAssemblyAttribute	Applied to a Web service client proxy, enables you to specify an assembly that contains custom-made serializers.
XmlSerializerFactory	Creates typed versions of the XmlSerializer for more efficient serialization.
XmlSerializerImplementation	Defines the reader, writer, and methods for pre-generated, typed serializers.
XmlSerializerNamespaces	Contains the XML namespaces and prefixes that the XmlSerializer uses to generate qualified names in an XML-document instance.
XmlSerializerVersionAttribute	Signifies that the code was generated by the serialization infrastructure and can be reused for increased performance, when this attribute is applied to an assembly.
XmlTextAttribute	Indicates to the XmlSerializer that the member must be treated as XML text when the class that contains it is serialized or deserialized.
XmlTypeAttribute	Controls the XML schema that is generated when the attribute target is serialized by the XmlSerializer.
XmlTypeMapping	Contains a mapping of one type to another.

Structs

XmlDeserializationEvents

Contains fields that can be used to pass event delegates to a thread-safe Deserialize method of the XmlSerializer.

Interfaces

IXmlSerializable	Provides custom formatting for XML serialization and deserialization.
IXmlTextParser	Establishes a Normalized property for use by the .NET infrastructure.

Enums

CodeGenerationOptions	Specifies various options to use when generating .NET types for use with an XML Web Service.
XmlMappingAccess	Specifies whether a mapping is read, write, or both.

Delegates

UnreferencedObjectEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the UnreferencedObject event of an XmlSerializer.
XmlAttributeEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the UnknownAttribute.
XmlElementEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the UnknownElement event of an XmlSerializer.
XmlNodeEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the UnknownNode event of an XmlSerializer.
XmlSerializationCollectionFixupCallback	Delegate used by the XmlSerializer class for deserialization of SOAP-encoded XML data types that map to collections or enumerations.
XmlSerializationFixupCallback	Delegate used by the XmlSerializer class for deserialization of SOAP-encoded XML data.
XmlSerializationReadCallback	Delegate used by the XmlSerializer class for deserialization of types from SOAP-encoded, non-root XML data.
XmlSerializationWriteCallback	Delegate that is used by the XmlSerializer class for serialization of types from SOAP-encoded, non-root XML data.

Remarks

The central class in the namespace is the XmlSerializer class. To use this class, use the XmlSerializer constructor to create an instance of the class using the type of the object to serialize. Once an XmlSerializer is created, create an instance of the object to serialize. You must also create an object to write the file to a document or stream, such as a Stream, TextWriter, or XmlWriter. You can then call the Serialize method to convert the object into an XML document.

To deserialize an object from an XML document, create a suitable object to read the document or stream (again, a Stream, TextWriter, or XmlWriter). Invoke the Deserialize method while casting the resulting object to the type of the original object (that was serialized).

To further control the serialization, the System.Xml.Serialization namespace contains several Attribute classes that can be applied to members of a class. For example, if a class contains a member that will be serialized as an XML element, you can apply the XmlElementAttribute attribute to the member. When applying the attribute, you can specify details such as the actual XML element name using the ElementName property. For a complete list of all the attributes, see the XmlSerializer class overview.