How to force a XmlSerializer to serialize elements as attributes of a compiled type?

Question

I\'ve given some predefined XML similar to this:

Answer 1

You can change the way a class is being serialized/deserialized by altering its serialization attributes at runtime. XmlAttributeOverrides class provides such possibility. The following example code correctly deseralizes the XML you've provided:

XmlAttributes xa = new XmlAttributes();
XmlAttributes ya = new XmlAttributes();

xa.XmlAttribute = new XmlAttributeAttribute("X");
ya.XmlAttribute = new XmlAttributeAttribute("Y");

XmlAttributeOverrides xao = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
xao.Add(typeof(System.Windows.Point), "X", xa);
xao.Add(typeof(System.Windows.Point), "Y", ya);

var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(RootClass), xao);
TextReader textReader = new StreamReader("file.xml");

var result = (RootClass)serializer.Deserialize(textReader);