Formatting XmlSerializer Output

I'm using classes generated from xsd.exe. I am serializing them with
XmlTextWriter, and everything works fine. Our customer, though, has a
silly requirement that dollar amounts (in the .xsd as decimals) be
formatted to always include cents (regardless if there are cents or
not). I'm interested in using the classes to only output data (i.e.
I'm not parsing incoming data)

I've tried setting up the following construct to format the output of
each of the affected decimal fields, but I don't get anything written
out to the .xml file. What am I missing - and is there a better way?

/// Override for Amount output
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute(Att ributeName =
"Amount", DataType="string")]
public string AmountString {
get {
return string.Format("#0.00", this.amountField);
}
}

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnore()]
public decimal Amount {
get {
return this.amountField;
}
set {
this.amountField = value;
}

<jasonterando (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

I'm using classes generated from xsd.exe. I am serializing them with
XmlTextWriter, and everything works fine. Our customer, though, has a
silly requirement that dollar amounts (in the .xsd as decimals) be
formatted to always include cents (regardless if there are cents or
not). I'm interested in using the classes to only output data (i.e.
I'm not parsing incoming data)

I've tried setting up the following construct to format the output of
each of the affected decimal fields, but I don't get anything written
out to the .xml file. What am I missing - and is there a better way?

/// Override for Amount output
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute(Att ributeName =
"Amount", DataType="string")]
public string AmountString {
get {
return string.Format("#0.00", this.amountField);
}
}

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnore()]
public decimal Amount {
get {
return this.amountField;
}
set {
this.amountField = value;
}

Xml serialisation does not serialise read only properties. You can put in a
set method for AmountString and get it to throw an error if used. Not ideal,
I know.
The only other option I can think of is to implement IXmlSerializable and
take control of the whole process.

--

Joe Fawcett (MVP - XML)
http://joe.fawcett.name