This is only a slight modification on the approach suggested in the question, but this Microsoft Connect issue recommends using a property for serialization like this:
[XmlIgnore]
public TimeSpan TimeSinceLastEvent
{
get { return m_TimeSinceLastEvent; }
set { m_TimeSinceLastEvent = value; }
}
// XmlSerializer does not support TimeSpan, so use this property for
// serialization instead.
[Browsable(false)]
[XmlElement(DataType="duration", ElementName="TimeSinceLastEvent")]
public string TimeSinceLastEventString
{
get
{
return XmlConvert.ToString(TimeSinceLastEvent);
}
set
{
TimeSinceLastEvent = string.IsNullOrEmpty(value) ?
TimeSpan.Zero : XmlConvert.ToTimeSpan(value);
}
}
This would serialize a TimeSpan of 0:02:45 as:
<TimeSinceLastEvent>PT2M45S</TimeSinceLastEvent>
Alternatively, the DataContractSerializer supports TimeSpan.