I have a WSDL from a web service server which includes the following in its types:
<xs:element minOccurs="0" name="countryID" type="xs:int"/>
This is supposed to represent an optional int element named countryID. When I run svcutil.exe (from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin) against it, I get the following generated code:
[System.Runtime.Serialization.DataMemberAttribute()]
public int countryID
{
get
{
return this.countryIDField;
}
set
{
this.countryIDField = value;
}
}
The "IsRequired=true" property is not set on the DataMemberAttribute. But there's no way to indicate that I want a given instance to be absent! Some googling revealed that I could modify the generated code (which I hate doing) to use "DataMemberAttribute(EmitDefaultValue=false)" (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa347792.aspx?ppud=4). But if I do this, I cannot use a countryID value of zero, as this will be interpreted as the default value, and no countryID element will be generated!
The solution: add the "/serializer:XmlSerializer" command line option, which causes the following to be generated:
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute(Order=0)]
public int countryID
{
get
{
return this.countryIDField;
}
set
{
this.countryIDField = value;
}
}
///
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnoreAttribute()]
public bool countryIDSpecified
{
get
{
return this.countryIDFieldSpecified;
}
set
{
this.countryIDFieldSpecified = value;
}
}
public int countryID
{
get
{
return this.countryIDField;
}
set
{
this.countryIDField = value;
}
}
///
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnoreAttribute()]
public bool countryIDSpecified
{
get
{
return this.countryIDFieldSpecified;
}
set
{
this.countryIDFieldSpecified = value;
}
}
With this construct, as I described in my earlier post about optional attributes, setting countryIDFieldSpecified to "false" will not emit the countryID element.
