Can I fail to deserialize with XmlSerializer in C# if an element is not found?

Question

I am using XmlSerializer to write and read an object to xml in C#. I currently use the attributes XmlElement and XmlIgnore to manipulate the seria

Answer 1

The only way I've found to do this is via XSD. What you can do is validate while you deserialize:

static T Deserialize(string xml, XmlSchemaSet schemas)
{
    //List exceptions = new List();
    ValidationEventHandler validationHandler = (s, e) =>
    {
        //you could alternatively catch all the exceptions
        //exceptions.Add(e.Exception);
        throw e.Exception;
    };

    XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
    settings.Schemas.Add(schemas);
    settings.ValidationType = ValidationType.Schema;
    settings.ValidationEventHandler += validationHandler;

    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
    using (StringReader sr = new StringReader(xml))
        using (XmlReader books = XmlReader.Create(sr, settings))
           return (T)serializer.Deserialize(books);
}