I want to serialize a list to xml (from a web-api method).
public class Result
{
public List<string> Users { get; set; }
}
So I get for example:
<result>
<user>Paul</user>
<user>David</user>
<user>Joan</user>
</result>
So far, I get:
<result>
<users>
<user>Paul</user>
<user>David</user>
<user>Joan</user>
</users>
</result>
How do I tell the serialization not to wrap the user list in a "users" tag?
Thanks.
You could either derive from XmlObjectSerializer and implement your own XML Serializer (see here FMI) or else manipulate your type so it works with the default formatter. Which isn't a great solution, but may work for a simple example, like so:
public class Result : List<User>
{
//Any user added to Result will be nested directly within Result in the XML
}
Further reading:
You need to replace default DataContractSerializer with XmlSerializer in Application_Start method.
For whole project:
var xml = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.XmlFormatter;
xml.UseXmlSerializer = true;
For specific type:
var xml = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.XmlFormatter;
xml.SetSerializer<Result>(new XmlSerializer(typeof(Result)));
After this you can use attributes to format your xml output:
public class Result
{
[XmlElement("user")]
public List<string> Users { get; set; }
}
<users> element to <user>, rather than eliminating that level of the hierarchy?