Obsolete attribute missing from list of attributes that control XML Serialization

[alundporchsoftware]

Type of issue

Missing information

Description

The System.Obsolete attribute has prevented serialization of fields and properties being serialized by the XMLSerializer since .NET 3.5 (see https://weblogs.asp.net/psteele/xml-serialization-and-the-obsolete-attribute). As of .net core 6 and presumably 7 and 8, this is still true of the XMLSerializer class.

I can't find this documented anywhere in the documentation for the XMLSerializer. This document seems like the logical place to mention the interaction with the Obsolete attribute.

I want to propose the following change: alundporchsoftware@dd992f6

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/attributes-that-control-xml-serialization

Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/standard/serialization/attributes-that-control-xml-serialization.md

Document Version Independent Id

f0e557a3-1410-671b-2143-098c79540a58

Article author

@gewarren

Metadata

• ID: ca62ea13-6c14-6e33-3406-4a29a5a6d225
• Service: dotnet-fundamentals

[gewarren]

Thanks @alundporchsoftware. I'm good with your change if you want to open a PR!

[twdkeule]

We have noticed another undocumented behaviour: the ObsoleteAttribute also makes the XMLSerializer ignore Xml specific attributes.

Deserializing this class throws an exception:

[Obsolete]
[XmlRoot("root")]
public class Message {...}

Deserializing this does not (notice the order of the attributes):

[XmlRoot("root")]
[Obsolete]
public class Message {...}