Hi Mark,

Any progress on this?

For the two questions you mentioned in last reply, I've performed some
further research and here are some of what I found and understanding:

**1) how XmlSerializer handles arrays of objects - the convention is to
have
an array type property/member (e.g. public Foobar[] Foobars {}).  That
serializes/deserializes as <Foobars><Foobar/><Foobar/></Foobars>.
=====================================
To take an Array member, you should use the "XmlArrayAttribute" to decorate
the member property, and "XmlArrayItemAttribute" can help further describe
the array item objects.  Here is a test class I've made which can serialize
and deserialize a class which take a member property of a custom collection
class(array of another custom class):

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
namespace XMLSerializeApp
{
   [XmlRoot("EmployeeElement")]
   public class Employee
   {
       private string _firstname;
       private string _lastname;

       [XmlAttribute("firstName")]
       public string FirstName
       {
           get { return _firstname; }
           set { _firstname = value; }
       }

       [XmlAttribute("lastName")]
       public string LastName
       {
           get { return _lastname; }
           set { _lastname = value; }
       }

       public Employee() { }

       public Employee(string fn, string ln)
       {
           _firstname = fn;
           _lastname = ln;
       }
   }

   [XmlRoot("EmployeeCollectionElement")]
   public class EmployeeCollection : CollectionBase
   {

     

       public Employee this[int index]
       {
           get
           {
               return ((Employee)List[index]);
           }
           set
           {
               List[index] = value;
           }
       }

       public int Add(Employee value)
       {
           return (List.Add(value));
       }

       public int IndexOf(Employee value)
       {
           return (List.IndexOf(value));
       }

       public void Insert(int index, Employee value)
       {
           List.Insert(index, value);
       }

       public void Remove(Employee value)
       {
           List.Remove(value);
       }

       public bool Contains(Employee value)
       {
           // If value is not of type Employee, this will return false.
           return (List.Contains(value));
       }

       protected override void OnInsert(int index, Object value)
       {
           // Insert additional code to be run only when inserting values.
       }

       protected override void OnRemove(int index, Object value)
       {
           // Insert additional code to be run only when removing values.
       }

       protected override void OnSet(int index, Object oldValue, Object
newValue)
       {
           // Insert additional code to be run only when setting values.
       }

       protected override void OnValidate(Object value)
       {
           if (value.GetType() != typeof(Employee))
               throw new ArgumentException("value must be of type
Employee.", "value");
       }

   }

   [XmlRoot("WorkGroupElement")]
   public class WorkGroup
   {
       private string _name;
       private EmployeeCollection _emps;

       [XmlAttribute("name")]
       public string Name
       {
           get { return _name; }
           set { _name = value; }
       }

       [XmlAnyAttribute]
       public XmlAttribute[] XAttributes;

     
       [XmlArray("GroupMembers")]
       public EmployeeCollection Employees
       {
           get { return _emps; }
           set { _emps = value; }
       }

       public WorkGroup()
       { _emps = new EmployeeCollection();}

       public WorkGroup(string name)
           : this()
       {
           _name = name;
       }
   }

}

**2) how [XmlAnyAttribute] works.
It seems the "XmlAnyAttribute attribute" only apply and work on the top
level xml element( that means the type you supply in the XmlSerializer's
constructor).  for example, as for the classes I put above, If I deserlize
the "WorkGroup" class, only the "XmlAnyAttribute" applied on WorkGroup
class's member property will work(collect the attributes in WorkGroup
element). If the "XmlAnyAttribute" is applied in nested property's
class(such as the EmployeeCollection, it won't work ).  This seems to be a
fixed behavior of the xmlSerializer.  

Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

Microsoft MSDN Online Support Lead

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.