Question

I have a field:

public Field[][] fields;

And I want an XML:

<Fields>
    <Field x="0" y="0">
       ...
    </Field>
    <Field x="0" y="1">
       ...
    </Field>
    ...
</Fields>

Unfortunately, C# XmlSerializer gives me

<Fields>
    <ArrayOfField>
        .... some fields here
    </ArrayOfField>
    <ArrayOfField>
       .... some here
    </ArrayOfField>
            ...
</Fields>

How do I achieve this?

Well, actually I don’t need to stick to an array of arrays. The fields do represent a 2D space, so it was a natural choice. Would a Dictionary serialize the way I need?

Answer 1

You can create a property that converts between the array of arrays and a single array:

using System.Linq;

...

[XmlIgnore]
public Field[][] Fields;

[XmlArray("Fields")]
public Field[] SerializedFields
{
    get
    {
        return this.Fields.SelectMany(fields => fields).ToArray();
    }
    set
    {
        this.Fields = new Field[value.Max(field => field.x) + 1][];
        for (int x = 0; x < this.Fields.Length; x++)
        {
            this.Fields[x] = value.Where(field => field.x == x).ToArray();
        }
    }
}