Quote Originally Posted by wolf99 View Post
it's not just the names, but the types that differ also
That concerns me because there shouldn't be changes in types... strings are strings... dates are dates, figs are figs, and numbers are numbers. So if something is coming in the file as a date, it should be a date from the start... it shouldn't be changing its type in any way. That's just asking for more trouble.
If you think you're having to jump through hoops like that just to do something as simple as (de)serialization ... then Sitten's right, you've got a major design flaw and the whole thing needs to be redone. Personally, if I can help it, I don't let my XML drive my code/objects, but let my objects design my XML.

-tg