Force XML serialization to serialize readonly property

Question

In C#, I have a class which has a derived property that should be serialized via XML. However, XML serialization (by default) doesn't serialize read=only properties. I can work around this by defining an empty setter like so:

public virtual string IdString {     get { return Id.ToString("000000"); }     set { /* required for xml serialization */ } } 

But is there a cleaner more semantically correct way, short of writing my own ISerializable implementation?

Answer 1

Honestly this doesn't seem too bad to me as long as it is documented

You should probably throw an exception if the setter is actually called:

/// <summary> /// Blah blah blah. /// </summary> /// <exception cref="NotSupportedException">Any use of the setter for this property.</exception> /// <remarks> /// This property is read only and should not be set.   /// The setter is provided for XML serialisation. /// </remarks> public virtual string IdString {     get     {         return Id.ToString("000000");     }     set     {         throw new NotSupportedException("Setting the IdString property is not supported");     } }