Conditional xml serialization

You should be able to use the ShouldSerialize* pattern:

public class Book{    [XmlAttribute]     public string Title {get;set;}    public bool ShouldSerializeTitle() {        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Title);    }    [XmlAttribute]    public string Description {get;set;}    public bool ShouldSerializeDescription() {        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Description );    }    [XmlAttribute]    public string Author {get;set;}    public bool ShouldSerializeAuthor() {        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Author);    }    [XmlAttribute]    public string Publisher {get;set;}    public bool ShouldSerializePublisher() {        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Publisher);    }}

Alternative :

• Switch your public fields to properties
• Define default values with the DefaultValueAttribute attribute
• Define content property with the ContentPropertyAttribute attribute
• Use XamlWriter/XamlReader

You end up with something like this:

 [ContentProperty("Books")] public class Library {   private readonly List<Book> m_books = new List<Book>();   public List<Book> Books { get { return m_books; } } } public class Book {    [DefaultValue(string.Empty)]    public string Title { get; set; }    [DefaultValue(string.Empty)]    public string Description { get; set; }    [DefaultValue(string.Empty)]    public string Author { get; set; } }

public class Books{    [XmlElement("Book")]    public List<Book> BookList;}public class Book{    [XmlAttribute]    public string Title;    [XmlAttribute]    public string Description;    [XmlAttribute]    public string Author;    [XmlAttribute]    public string Publisher;}class Program{    static void Main()    {        var books = new Books        {            BookList = new List<Book>(new[]             {                new Book                 {                    Title = "t1",                    Description = "d1"                },                new Book                 {                    Author = "a2",                    Description = "d2"                },                new Book                 {                    Author = "a3",                    Title = "t3",                    Publisher = "p3"                },            })        };        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(books.GetType());        serializer.Serialize(Console.Out, books);    }}

And if you want to remove the namespace from the root node:

var namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();namespaces.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);serializer.Serialize(Console.Out, books, namespaces);

Also I would recommend you using properties instead of fields in your model classes for better encapsulation:

public class Books{    [XmlElement("Book")]    public List<Book> BookList { get; set; }}