Change the order of elements when serializing XML

Question

I need to serialize an Object to XML and back. The XML is fix and I can't change it. I fail to generate this structure after bookingList.

How can I "group" these <booking> elements to appear as a LIST and keep <error> & <counter> before this List of <booking> elements.

See my example here:

Structure i need....

<nicexml> <key_id>1234567</key_id> <surname>Jil</surname> <name>Sander</name> <station_id>1</station_id> <ownBookings>     <bookingList>         <error></error>         <counter>20</counter>         <booking>              <bookingID>1234567890</bookingID>         </booking>         <booking>              <bookingID>2345678901</bookingID>         </booking>     </bookingList> </ownBookings> </nicexml> 

Structure i get with C# code below....

<nicexml> <key_id>1234567</key_id> <surname>Jil</surname> <name>Sander</name> <station_id>1</station_id> <ownBookings>     <bookingList>            <booking>         <booking>              <bookingID>1234567890</bookingID>         </booking>         <booking>              <bookingID>2345678901</bookingID>         </booking>              <booking>         <error></error>         <counter>20</counter>     </bookingList> </ownBookings> </nicexml> 

C# Code:

using System; using System.Xml.Serialization; using System.Collections.Generic;  namespace xml_objects_serials {     public class bookings     {         public class nicexml         {             public string key_id             { get; set; }              public string surname             { get; set; }              public string name             { get; set; }              public int station_id             { get; set; }              public ownBookings ownBookings             { get; set; }          }          public class ownBookings         {             public bookingList bookingList             { get; set; }          }         public class bookingList {             public string error              { get; set; }             public int counter             { get; set; }             public List<booking> booking= new List<booking>();         }          public class booking         {             public int bookingID             { get; set; }         }     } 

Answer 1

Try decorating the properties of the bookingListclass with the XmlElementAttribute, in order to control how the objects of that class are going to be serialized to XML.

Here's an example:

public class bookingList {     [XmlElement(Order = 1)]     public string error { get; set; }     [XmlElement(Order = 2)]     public int counter { get; set; }     [XmlElement(ElementName = "booking", Order = 3)]     public List<booking> bookings = new List<booking>(); }  public class booking {     public int id { get; set; } } 

In my test I obtained this output:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>  <bookingList>     <error>sample</error>     <counter>0</counter>     <booking>         <id>1</id>      </booking>     <booking>         <id>2</id>      </booking>     <booking>         <id>3</id>      </booking>  </bookingList> 

Related resources:

• Controlling XML Serialization Using Attributes