DataMemberAttribute Class

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When applied to the member of a type, specifies that the member is part of a data contract and is serializable by the DataContractSerializer.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Attribute
    System.Runtime.Serialization.DataMemberAttribute

Namespace:  System.Runtime.Serialization
Assembly:  System.Runtime.Serialization (in System.Runtime.Serialization.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Property Or AttributeTargets.Field, Inherited := False,  _
    AllowMultiple := False)> _
Public NotInheritable Class DataMemberAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Property|AttributeTargets.Field, Inherited = false, 
    AllowMultiple = false)]
public sealed class DataMemberAttribute : Attribute

The DataMemberAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

  Name Description
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone DataMemberAttribute Initializes a new instance of the DataMemberAttribute class.

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Properties

  Name Description
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone EmitDefaultValue Gets or sets a value that specifies whether to serialize the default value for a field or property being serialized.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone IsRequired Gets or sets a value that instructs the serialization engine whether the member must be present in the serialized data when it is being deserializing.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Name Gets or sets a data member name.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Order Gets or sets the order of serialization and deserialization of a member.

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Methods

  Name Description
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Equals Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone 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.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone GetHashCode Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Match When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows Phone ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

Apply the DataMemberAttribute attribute in conjunction with the DataContractAttribute to identify members of a type that are part of a data contract. One of the serializers that can serialize data contracts is the DataContractSerializer.

The data contract model for Silverlight 5 is an opt-out model. This means that the members are serialized by default unless the IgnoreDataMemberAttribute is applied to a field or property explicitly to specify that the member value is not to be serialized.

By default, the CLR member name is used as the name of the data member. By setting the Name property, you can customize the name of the data member. This can be used to provide a name that may not be allowed as a CLR member name. When mapping to XML using the DataContractSerializer, this name is used as the name of the schema element in a type.

Examples

        ' Define the data contract.
        <DataContract(Name := "Customer", Namespace := "https://www.contoso.com")> _
        Public Class User
            Private privateName As String
            <DataMember(Name := "Last", EmitDefaultValue := True, IsRequired := True, Order := 2)> _
            Public Property Name() As String
                Get
                    Return privateName
                End Get
                Set(ByVal value As String)
                    privateName = value
                End Set
            End Property

            Private privateAge As Integer
            <DataMember(Order := 1)> _
            Public Property Age() As Integer
                Get
                    Return privateAge
                End Get
                Set(ByVal value As Integer)
                    privateAge = value
                End Set
            End Property

            Public Sub New()
            End Sub

            Public Sub New(ByVal newName As String, ByVal newAge As Integer)
                    Name = newName
                    Age = newAge
            End Sub
        End Class
        // Define the data contract.
        [DataContract(Name = "Customer" , Namespace = "https://www.contoso.com" ) ]
        public class User
        {
            [DataMember(Name = "Last" , EmitDefaultValue = true , IsRequired = true , Order = 2 )]
            public string Name { get; set; }

            [DataMember(Order = 1)]
            public int Age { get; set; }

            public User() { }

            public User(string newName, int newAge)
            {
                    Name = newName;
                    Age = newAge;
            }
        }

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.