Need a little help with Xml Serialization

[Evan1993]

I have a Dictionary which I am Serializing with some code I found. (Converted to vb.net)

It works great, but the output is like

<item>
<key></key>
<value></value>
</item>

etc.

I'm trying to make it so that it uses attributes instead like this:
<item key="" value=""/>


I tried using XmlAttributeOverrides but either I didn't use it right or it can't do what I want.

If someone could point me in the right direction I would be grateful.

Converted example.

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Xml.Serialization
<XmlRoot("dictionary")> _
Public Class SerializableDictionary(Of TKey, TValue)
    Inherits Dictionary(Of TKey, TValue)
    Implements IXmlSerializable

#Region "IXmlSerializable Members"

    Public Function GetSchema() As System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema
        Return Nothing
    End Function

    Public Sub ReadXml(ByVal reader As System.Xml.XmlReader)
        Dim keySerializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(TKey))
        Dim valueSerializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(TValue))
        Dim wasEmpty As Boolean = reader.IsEmptyElement

        reader.Read()

        If wasEmpty Then
            Exit Sub
        End If

        While reader.NodeType <> System.Xml.XmlNodeType.EndElement
            reader.ReadStartElement("item")
            reader.ReadStartElement("key")
            Dim key As TKey = DirectCast(keySerializer.Deserialize(reader), TKey)
            reader.ReadEndElement()
            reader.ReadStartElement("value")
            Dim value As TValue = DirectCast(valueSerializer.Deserialize(reader), TValue)
            reader.ReadEndElement()
            Me.Add(key, value)
            reader.ReadEndElement()
            reader.MoveToContent()
        End While

        reader.ReadEndElement()
    End Sub

    Public Sub WriteXml(ByVal writer As System.Xml.XmlWriter)
        Dim keySerializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(TKey))
        Dim valueSerializer As New XmlSerializer(GetType(TValue))

        For Each key As TKey In Me.Keys
            writer.WriteStartElement("item")
            writer.WriteStartElement("key")
            keySerializer.Serialize(writer, key)
            writer.WriteEndElement()
            writer.WriteStartElement("value")
            Dim value As TValue = Me(key)
            valueSerializer.Serialize(writer, value)
            writer.WriteEndElement()
            writer.WriteEndElement()
        Next
    End Sub

#End Region

End Class

 

[MattP]

Your WriteXml method is creating attributes for item and key because of these lines:

            writer.WriteStartElement("item")
            writer.WriteStartElement("key")

Check out the WriteAttributeString Method: XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString Method (String, String) (System.Xml)

 

[Evan1993]

Yeah I had tried that also, but I decided to go back to the way it originally was, because attributes wouldn't work very nice for nested dictionaries.