XmlSerializer List Item Element Name

Question

I have a class PersonList

[XmlRoot(\"Persons\")]
PersonList : List

when I serialize this to XML, by default it wi

Answer 1

I know it's an old question but I ran into the same problem and none of the solutions seems to adresse the OP's question. So here is my solution (comments are in french if you wonder) :

#region Références
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Schema;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
#endregion

namespace XmlSerializationTests
{
    /// 

    /// Représente une liste qui peut être sérialisée en XML en tant que noeud racine.
    /// 
    /// Type des éléments de la liste.
    public class XmlSerializableList
        : List, IXmlSerializable
    {
        #region Variables
        private static readonly XmlSerializer _ItemSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
        private static readonly string _ItemName;
        private string _RootName;
        #endregion

        #region Méthodes
        /// 

        /// Initialisation statique
        /// 
        static XmlSerializableList()
        {
            _ItemName = (typeof(T).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(XmlRootAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault() as XmlRootAttribute)?.ElementName ?? typeof(T).Name;
        }

        /// 

        /// Obtient le nom racine.
        /// 
        protected virtual string RootName
        {
            get
            {
                if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_RootName)) _RootName = (GetType().GetCustomAttributes(typeof(XmlRootAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault() as XmlRootAttribute)?.ElementName ?? GetType().Name;
                return _RootName;
            }
        }

        /// 

        /// Obtient le nom des éléments.
        /// 
        protected virtual string ItemName
        {
            get { return _ItemName; }
        }

        /// 

        /// Cette méthode est réservée et ne doit pas être utilisée.Lorsque vous implémentez l'interface IXmlSerializable, vous devez retourner la valeur null (Nothing dans Visual Basic) à partir cette méthode et, si la spécification d'un schéma personnalisé est requise, appliquez à la place  à la classe.
        /// 
        ///   qui décrit la représentation XML de l'objet qui est généré par la méthode  et utilisé par la méthode .
        public XmlSchema GetSchema()
        {
            return null;
        }

        /// 

        /// Génère un objet à partir de sa représentation XML.
        /// 
        ///  source à partir de laquelle l'objet est désérialisé.
        public void ReadXml(XmlReader reader)
        {
            if (!reader.IsEmptyElement)
            {
                reader.ReadStartElement();
                while (reader.NodeType != XmlNodeType.EndElement)
                {
                    T item = (T) _ItemSerializer.Deserialize(reader);
                    Add(item);
                }
                reader.ReadEndElement();
            }
            else reader.ReadStartElement();
        }

        /// 

        /// Convertit un objet en sa représentation XML.
        /// 
        ///  flux dans lequel l'objet est sérialisé.
        public void WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
        {
            foreach (var i in this)
            {
                XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
                ns.Add("", "");
                _ItemSerializer.Serialize(writer, i, ns);
            }
        }
        #endregion
    }
}

And here a unit test class to demonstrate use and results :

#region Références
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
#endregion

namespace XmlSerializationTests
{
    [TestClass]
    public class XmlSerializableListTests
    {
        public class Person
        {
            public string FirstName { get; set; }
            public string LastName { get; set; }
            public int Birth { get; set; }
        }

        [XmlRoot("color")]
        public class ColorDefinition
        {
            [XmlElement("name")] public string Name { get; set; }
            [XmlElement("r")] public int Red { get; set; }
            [XmlElement("g")] public int Green { get; set; }
            [XmlElement("b")] public int Blue { get; set; }
        }

        public class Persons : XmlSerializableList
        {
        }

        [XmlRoot("colors")]
        public class ColorList : XmlSerializableList
        {
        }

        private T ReadXml(string text) where T : class
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (T));
            using (StringReader sr = new StringReader(text))
            {
                return serializer.Deserialize(sr) as T;
            }
        }

        private string WriteXml(T data) where T : class
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter(sb))
            {
                serializer.Serialize(sw, data);
                return sb.ToString();
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadEmpty()
        {
            string xml = @"

";
            XmlSerializableList lst = ReadXml>(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst.Count);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadEmpty2()
        {
            string xml = @"
";
            XmlSerializableList lst = ReadXml>(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst.Count);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadSimpleItems()
        {
            string xml = @"

  0
  52
  79
";
            XmlSerializableList lst = ReadXml>(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(3, lst.Count);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[0]);
            Assert.AreEqual(52, lst[1]);
            Assert.AreEqual(79, lst[2]);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadComplexItems()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    Linus
    Torvalds
    1969
  
  
    Bill
    Gates
    1955
  
  
    Steve
    Jobs
    1955
  
";
            XmlSerializableList lst = ReadXml>(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(3, lst.Count);
            Assert.AreEqual("Linus", lst[0].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Torvalds", lst[0].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1969, lst[0].Birth);
            Assert.AreEqual("Bill", lst[1].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Gates", lst[1].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1955, lst[1].Birth);
            Assert.AreEqual("Steve", lst[2].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Jobs", lst[2].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1955, lst[2].Birth);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadInheritedPersons()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    Linus
    Torvalds
    1969
  
  
    Bill
    Gates
    1955
  
  
    Steve
    Jobs
    1955
  
";
            Persons lst = ReadXml(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(3, lst.Count);
            Assert.AreEqual("Linus", lst[0].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Torvalds", lst[0].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1969, lst[0].Birth);
            Assert.AreEqual("Bill", lst[1].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Gates", lst[1].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1955, lst[1].Birth);
            Assert.AreEqual("Steve", lst[2].FirstName);
            Assert.AreEqual("Jobs", lst[2].LastName);
            Assert.AreEqual(1955, lst[2].Birth);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ReadInheritedColors()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    red
    255
    0
    0
  
  
    green
    0
    255
    0
  
  
    yellow
    255
    255
    0
  
";
            ColorList lst = ReadXml(xml);
            Assert.AreEqual(3, lst.Count);
            Assert.AreEqual("red", lst[0].Name);
            Assert.AreEqual(255, lst[0].Red);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[0].Green);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[0].Blue);
            Assert.AreEqual("green", lst[1].Name);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[1].Red);
            Assert.AreEqual(255, lst[1].Green);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[1].Blue);
            Assert.AreEqual("yellow", lst[2].Name);
            Assert.AreEqual(255, lst[2].Red);
            Assert.AreEqual(255, lst[2].Green);
            Assert.AreEqual(0, lst[2].Blue);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void WriteEmpty()
        {
            string xml = @"
";
            XmlSerializableList lst = new XmlSerializableList();
            string result = WriteXml(lst);
            Assert.AreEqual(xml, result);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void WriteSimpleItems()
        {
            string xml = @"

  0
  52
  79
";
            XmlSerializableList lst = new XmlSerializableList() {0, 52, 79};
            string result = WriteXml(lst);
            Assert.AreEqual(xml, result);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void WriteComplexItems()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    Linus
    Torvalds
    1969
  
  
    Bill
    Gates
    1955
  
  
    Steve
    Jobs
    1955
  
";
            XmlSerializableList persons = new XmlSerializableList
            {
                new Person {FirstName = "Linus", LastName = "Torvalds", Birth = 1969},
                new Person {FirstName = "Bill", LastName = "Gates", Birth = 1955},
                new Person {FirstName = "Steve", LastName = "Jobs", Birth = 1955}
            };
            string result = WriteXml(persons);
            Assert.AreEqual(xml, result);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void WriteInheritedPersons()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    Linus
    Torvalds
    1969
  
  
    Bill
    Gates
    1955
  
  
    Steve
    Jobs
    1955
  
";
            Persons lst = new Persons
            {
                new Person {FirstName = "Linus", LastName = "Torvalds", Birth = 1969},
                new Person {FirstName = "Bill", LastName = "Gates", Birth = 1955},
                new Person {FirstName = "Steve", LastName = "Jobs", Birth = 1955}
            };
            string result = WriteXml(lst);
            Assert.AreEqual(xml, result);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void WriteInheritedColors()
        {
            string xml = @"

  
    red
    255
    0
    0
  
  
    green
    0
    255
    0
  
  
    yellow
    255
    255
    0
  
";
            ColorList lst = new ColorList
            {
                new ColorDefinition { Name = "red", Red = 255, Green = 0, Blue = 0 },
                new ColorDefinition { Name = "green", Red = 0, Green = 255, Blue = 0 },
                new ColorDefinition { Name = "yellow", Red = 255, Green = 255, Blue = 0 }
            };
            string result = WriteXml(lst);
            Assert.AreEqual(xml, result);
        }
    }
}