Question

If I have a base class that inherits from a generic list, and the derived class needs to be serialized with a custom name for the list entries how can I enter the correct serializartion attributes and/or refer to the base list?

Public MustInherit Class SpecialList(Of T)
   Inherits List(Of T)
   'Other methods here
End Class

Public Class Cache
   Inherits SpecialList(Of CacheEntry)

   <XmlElementAttribute("CustomName")> _
   Public Property Entries() As List(Of CacheEntry)
      Get
         Return ???
      End Get
      Set(value As List(Of CacheEntry))
         ??? = value
      End Set
   End Property
End Class

Is this actually possible without either overriding the base class methods, writing custom serialization, or implementing IXmlSerializable?

I’m expecting to get output XML something like this:

<cache>
    <customname></customname>
    <customname></customname>
</cache>

Answer 1

Add an XmlRootAttribute to CacheEntry:

<XmlRootAttribute(ElementName:="customname")>
Public Class CacheEntry

As a side question, if Cache inherits from List (through SpecialList) then why do you have a Entries property that’s also a List?