Can you specify format for XmlSerialization of a datetime?

Question

I need to serialize / deserialize a datetime into yyyyMMdd format for an XML file. Is there an attribute / workaround I can use for this?

Answer 1

XmlElementAttribute#DataType should provide what you need:

[XmlElement(DataType="date")]    
public DateTime Date1 {get;set;}

This will get Date1 property serialized to the proper xml date format.