CollectionDataContractAttribute Class
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
When applied to a collection type, enables custom specification of the collection item elements. This attribute can be applied only to types that are recognized by the DataContractSerializer as valid, serializable collections.
Assembly: System.Runtime.Serialization (in System.Runtime.Serialization.dll)
The CollectionDataContractAttribute type exposes the following members.
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
 | CollectionDataContractAttribute | Initializes a new instance of the CollectionDataContractAttribute class. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
 | IsReference | Gets or sets a value that indicates whether to preserve object reference data. |
| ItemName | Gets or sets a custom name for a collection element. |
| KeyName | Gets or sets the custom name for a dictionary key name. |
| Name | Gets or sets the data contract name for the collection type. |
| Namespace | Gets or sets the namespace for the data contract. |
| ValueName | Gets or sets the custom name for a dictionary value name. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Equals | Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.) |
 | Finalize | Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.) |
| GetHashCode | Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.) |
| GetType | Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.) |
| Match | When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.) |
| MemberwiseClone | Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) |
| ToString | Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.) |
The CollectionDataContractAttribute is intended to ease interoperability when working with data from non-Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services and to control the exact shape of serialized instances. To achieve this, the ItemName property enables you to control the names of the repeating items inside a collection.
The CollectionDataContractAttribute is also intended to be used with dictionary types to handle keyed collections. Dictionary types are classes that implement either the IDictionary or the IDictionary<TKey, TValue> interface, for example, the Dictionary<TKey, TValue>. Use the KeyName and ValueName properties to set custom names when using the Dictionary<TKey, TValue> class.