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 is an "opt-in" model. Applying the DataMemberAttribute to a field or property explicitly specifies that the member value will be serialized. In contrast, the BinaryFormatter serializes public and private fields of a type, and the XmlSerializer serializes only public fields and properties of a type.
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You can apply the DataMemberAttribute to private fields or properties. Be aware that the data returned by the member (even if it private) will be serialized and deserialized, and thus can be viewed or intercepted by a malicious user or process. |
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.
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Properties to which the DataMemberAttribute attribute has been applied must have both get and set fields; they cannot be get-only or set-only. |
For more information about data contracts and data members, see Using Data Contracts. For more information about member names, see Data Member Default Values.