.NET API Reference

Constructors

public XmlSerializer(Type type);
public XmlSerializer(Type type, string defaultNamespace);
public XmlSerializer(Type type, XmlAttributeOverrides overrides);
public XmlSerializer(Type type, XmlRootAttribute root);
public XmlSerializer(Type type, XmlAttributeOverrides overrides, Type[] extraTypes, XmlRootAttribute root, string defaultNamespace);

Methods

public void Serialize(Stream stream, object o);
public void Serialize(TextWriter textWriter, object o);
public void Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, object o);
public object Deserialize(Stream stream);
public object Deserialize(TextReader textReader);
public object Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader);
public XmlSerializerNamespaces? GetAllNamespaces();

Serializing an Object

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var p = new Person { Name = "Alice", Age = 30 };
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));

        using var writer = new StringWriter();
        serializer.Serialize(writer, p);
        Console.WriteLine(writer.ToString());
    }
}

Deserializing XML

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string xml = @"<Person><Name>Bob</Name><Age>45</Age></Person>";
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));

        using var reader = new StringReader(xml);
        var person = (Person)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
        Console.WriteLine($"{person.Name} is {person.Age} years old.");
    }
}

The XmlSerializer generates temporary assemblies to perform serialization. For high‑performance scenarios, consider using DataContractSerializer or source‑generated serializers.

• Only public read/write properties and fields are serialized by default.
• Attributes such as [XmlElement], [XmlAttribute], and [XmlIgnore] control the XML output.
• When serializing generic types, provide the additional types via the constructor overload.

• XmlReader
• XmlWriter
• DataContractSerializer
• XmlAttributeOverrides