Question

I have a class that looks like this

public class SomeClass {     public SomeChildClass[] childArray; } 

which will output XML from the XMLSerializer like this:

<SomeClass>    <SomeChildClass>       ...    </SomeChildClass>    <SomeChildClass>       ...    </SomeChildClass> </SomeClass> 

But I want the XML to look like this:

<SomeClass>    <SomeChildClass index=1>       ...    </SomeChildClass>    <SomeChildClass index=2>       ...    </SomeChildClass> </SomeClass> 

Where the index attribute is equal to the items position in the array.

I could add an index property to SomeChildClass with the ‘XMLAttribute’ attribute but then I would have to remember to loop through the array and set that value before I serialize my object.

Is there some attribute i can add or some other way to automatically generate the index attribute for me?

Answer 1

The best approach would be to do what you said and add a property to the ‘SomeChildClass’ like this

[XmlAttribute('Index')] public int Order {  { get; set; }   } 

Then however you are adding these items to your array, make sure that this property get’s set. Then when you serialize….Presto!