Add Xml Attribute to string property

Question

I have a custom object which has a string property called 'Name' I'd like to keep the XML generated by serialization the same but add an attribute to the element called 'NiceName' with a value of 'Full name'.

This is what i have currently:

<TheObject>
  <Name>mr nobody</Name>
</TheObject>

This is what i would like to generate:

<TheObject>
  <Name NiceName='Full name'>mr nobody</Name>
</TheObject>

I only need this for some XSLT so i don't want to change the way the class works if possible. I.E. Changing name from string to a custom class. All objects will have the same attribute it will never change it is going to be totally read only.

jaxxbo · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-07 02:58:34Z

8

You can use a combination of XMLAttribute and XmlText()

take below example of class declaration:

    public class Description {
    private int attribute_id;
    private string element_text;

    [XmlAttribute("id")]
    public int Id {
        get { return attribute_id; }
        set { attribute_id = value; }
    }

    [XmlText()]
    public string Text {
        get { return element_text; }
        set { element_text = value; }
    }
}

The output will be

<XmlDocRoot>
<Description id="1">text</Description>

answered Dec 7, 2012 at 2:58

jaxxbo

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Comments

Aliostad · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-11 13:19:55Z

4

It is possible if you define another type as below:

public class Person
{

    private string _name;


    [XmlIgnore]
    public string Name
    {
        get
        {
            return _name;
        }
        set
        {
            _name = value;
            ThePersonName = new PersonName()
                                {
                                    Name = FullName,
                                    NiceName = _name
                                };
        }
    }

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "Name")]
    public PersonName ThePersonName { get; set; }

    public string FullName { get; set; }

}

public class PersonName
{
    [XmlAttribute]
    public string NiceName { get; set; }

    [XmlText]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Using

        XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));
        Person ali = new Person();
        ali.FullName = "Ali Kheyrollahi";
        ali.Name = "Nobody";
        s.Serialize(new FileStream("ali.xml",FileMode.Create), ali);

Will generate

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Person xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <Name NiceName="Nobody">Ali Kheyrollahi</Name>
  <FullName>Ali Kheyrollahi</FullName>
</Person>

answered Nov 11, 2010 at 13:19

Aliostad

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3 Comments

Jammy Over a year ago

Thanks for the answers however what i'm trying to do is code an alternative for the node name not the persons name. I know its probably better to write this into the xslt its just i want to manage it from .net rather then the xslt. What i mean is i need to generate something like <FullName NiceName="Full Name">Mr Joe Blogs</FullName> In my Xslt i would then just output the nicename for each element and the value to produce an much nicer user interface. like "Full Name=Mr Joe Blogs" instead of "FullName=Joe Blogs" or an alternative is <TEL nicename="telephone">1234</TEL>

hunter Over a year ago

I can't figure out how to apply a sibling level property to another property as an attribute. I think Aliostad's answer "seems" a bit messy but I think it's the way to go.

Anton Tykhyy Over a year ago

You are better off doing this in xslt, srsly. XmlSerializer can't handle this sort of contortionism.

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