Skip wrapping elements when deserializing XML with C# / .NET -

i trying deserialize incoming xml data c#/.net 3.5 using class hierarchy starts class tagged xmlroot , contains classes , members required attributes. works far.

now have come across input data looks approximately this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ns1:foo xmlns:ns1="http://some.name/space">   <ns1:bar>     <payload interesting="true">       <stuff type="interesting"/>     </payload>   </ns1:bar> </ns1:foo> 

the outermost 2 elements - ns1:foo , ns1:bar - results of serialization process in remote system have no control over. exist in same constellation , of no interest whatsoever.

following current approach, write class foo references class bar in turn references class payload. however, since i'm not interested in foo , bar elements, there way skip them during deserialization , have deserializer return payload? if not: possible make class foopayload xmlroot(elementname = "foo", namespace = "http://some.name/space")attribute, somehow skip bar , payload levels foopayload class directly contains properties named interesting , stuff?

i modified xml correct errors. see interesting solution below.

using system; using system.collections.generic; using system.linq; using system.text; using system.xml; using system.xml.serialization; using system.io; using system.text.regularexpressions;  namespace consoleapplication1 {     class program     {         static void main(string[] args)         {             string input =                 "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" +                 "<ns1:foo xmlns:ns1=\"http://some.name/space\">" +                   "<ns1:bar>" +                     "<ns1:payload interesting=\"true\">" +                       "<ns1:stuff type=\"interesting\"/>" +                     "</ns1:payload>" +                   "</ns1:bar>" +                 "</ns1:foo>";              //remove prefix             string pattern = "(</?)([^:]*:)";             regex expr = new regex(pattern);             input = expr.replace(input, "$1");              xmlserializer xs = new xmlserializer(typeof(foo));             stringreader s_reader = new stringreader(input);             xmltextreader reader = new xmltextreader(s_reader);             foo  foo = (foo)xs.deserialize(reader);             foo.getstuff();         }     }     [xmlroot(elementname = "foo")]     public class foo     {         [xmlelement("bar")]         public bar bar { get; set; }          private boolean interesting;         private string type;          public void getstuff()         {             interesting = bar.payload.interesting;             type = bar.payload.stuff.type;         }      }     [xmlroot("bar")]     public class bar     {         [xmlelement("payload")]         public payload payload { get; set; }     }     [xmlroot("payload")]     public class payload     {         [xmlattribute("interesting")]         public boolean interesting { get; set; }         [xmlelement("stuff")]         public stuff stuff { get; set; }     }     [xmlroot("stuff")]     public class stuff     {         [xmlattribute("type")]         public string type { get; set; }     } } ​