How to serialize a nested list in c# into XML without specifying a list element?

Question

I have got two classes:

public class Foo
{
    public string FooName{get;set;}
    public List<Bar> Bars{get;set;}
}

public class Bar
{
    public string BarName{get;set;}
}

If I serialize this using the XML parser I come up with:

<Foo>
    <FooName>ExampleFooName</FooName>
    <Bars>
        <Bar>
             <BarName>ExampleBarName</BarName>
        </Bar>
        <Bar>
             <BarName>AnotherExampleBarName</BarName>
        </Bar>
    </Bars>
<Foo>

Is there any way to receive this as the result:

<Foo>
    <FooName>ExampleFooName</FooName>

    <Bar>
         <BarName>ExampleBarName</BarName>
    </Bar>
    <Bar>
         <BarName>AnotherExampleBarName</BarName>
    </Bar>
<Foo>

I am looking to either restructure the Foo and Bar classes, or pass in some parameter to the XMLSerializer to receive the result. I really want to avoid writing my own XML parser.

What did the Bars node do to make you reject it? Now Bars is sad. :( Bars wants to know if you'd reconsider. Bars really wants to make this work out with you. — Sam Axe
– Sam Axe, Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 21:06
possible duplicate of How do I get XmlSerializer to not serialize container tags? — Wouter de Kort
– Wouter de Kort ♦, Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 21:09
Customer wont let me use Bars :( I'm going over that other answer now — SamuelDavis
– SamuelDavis, Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 21:13
Bars is really sorry to hear that. You've made Bars very angry and now Bars is out to get you. Your code better watch its back! — Sam Axe
– Sam Axe, Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 21:18

Alon Catz · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-14 21:16:31Z

2

public class Foo
{
    public string FooName{get;set;}
    [XmlElement("Bar")]
    public List<Bar> Bars{get;set;}
}

answered Mar 14, 2013 at 21:16

Alon Catz

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