Question

My problem is that I would like to use the CollectionDataControlAttribute to deserialise a collection which does not have a group element. The xml looks something like this:

<RootElement>
    <SomeProperty />
    <ListElementEntry />
    <ListElementEntry />
    <ListElementEntry />
    <ListElementEntry />
</RootElement>

Where ListElementEntry appears zero or more times.

Help Appreciated

Answer 1

Does it have to be DataContractSerializer? You can elect to use XmlSerializer for WCF, and then you can use:

[XmlRoot("RootElement"), XmlType("RootElement")]
public class Foo {
    public string SomeProperty {get;set;}
    [XmlElement("ListElementEntry")]
    public List<Bar> Bars {get {return bars;}}
    private readonly List<Bar> bars = new List<Bar>();
}

Ultimately, DataContractSerializer is simply not designed to give you the same level of xml control – which is why it doesn’t support even attributes. If you need specific xml, XmlSerializer is usually a better choice.