Question

I have a problem when using the XmlSerializer class for deserializing an xml stream.

I have an object like that :

public class Test
{
  [XmlElement("data")]
  public AnotherObject Data
  {
    get; set;
  }

  // other properties
}

It will work properly when I will try to deserialize that :

<Test>
  <data>...</data>
  <something else... />
</Test>

However, if the xml is like :

<Test>
  <something else... />   
</Test>

When I will try to read the Data property of the newly created object, the code will throw an exception. If I try to observe the object, the debugger prints a “Could not evaluate exception”.

I want the property to exist, even if there is no corresponding tag in the XML.

Is it possible to do that ?

Thanks !

Answer 1

XML deserialization uses the calls the default constructor before setting the properties. You could set the data property to a default value there that will be overwritten if one is loaded from the deserialization.