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

For extensibility reasons, XmlSerializer is very forgiving when it comes to deserialization; things like [DefaultValue], ShouldSerialize{Foo} and {Foo}Specified are mainly used during serialization (the exception being {Foo}Specified, which is set during deserialization as well as queried during serialization).

As such; there isn't an easy way to do this, unless you implement IXmlSerializable and do it yourself. damagednoob shows an xsd option, which is also an option.