Ignore properties & omit default values

Huml.Net offers several levels of control over which properties are written — from excluding a member entirely to suppressing only its default or null values. This mirrors System.Text.Json's [JsonIgnore] and DefaultIgnoreCondition.

Exclude a property entirely — [HumlIgnore]

[HumlIgnore] removes a property from both serialisation and deserialisation:

using Huml.Net.Serialization;

public class User
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = "";

    [HumlIgnore]
    public string PasswordHash { get; set; } = "";   // never written, never read
}

Omit one property when it holds its default — [HumlProperty(OmitIfDefault = true)]

public class Server
{
    public string Host { get; set; } = "";

    [HumlProperty("port", OmitIfDefault = true)]
    public int Port { get; set; }   // omitted from output when 0
}

Omit defaults across a whole type — [HumlIgnoreDefaults]

[HumlIgnoreDefaults]
public class Config
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = "";
    public int Retries { get; set; }       // omitted when 0
    public bool Verbose { get; set; }      // omitted when false
}

Set a global default — HumlOptions.DefaultIgnoreCondition

DefaultIgnoreCondition applies to every property unless a more specific rule overrides it. It is a serialisation-only setting — it has no effect when deserialising.

using Huml.Net.Serialization;

var options = new HumlOptions
{
    DefaultIgnoreCondition = HumlIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
};
HumlIgnoreCondition Omits a property when…
Never (default) never — all properties are emitted.
WhenWritingNull its value is null.
WhenWritingDefault its value equals the CLR default for its type (includes null, 0, false).
Always unconditionally — the property is never written.

Precedence

When more than one rule could apply to a property, the most specific wins:

per-property [HumlProperty(OmitIfDefault = true)]
    → type-level [HumlIgnoreDefaults]
        → global HumlOptions.DefaultIgnoreCondition

[HumlIgnore] is absolute — an ignored property is never written or read regardless of the above.

See also

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