C# Serialization

Question

Hi

This is more a question on best practices rather that a specific problem with Serialization.  I've created a Person class with forename, surname, dob, mobile, email global variables and I've declared these variables as private.  I've then added a property for each of the global variables so I can read them and update them as necessary.  I've also create a function that calculates a persons age based on the current year and the year element from the dob variable.

I want to be able to serialize and deserialize my Person class using XML serialization.  To do the serialization, I understand that all the variables must be public and that I need to create a parameterless constructor.  Some of the reading that I've done recommend that the I should keep these global variables private and use properties to access and update the values.

Any suggestions on how I can allow serialization while at the same time comply with some common practices/standards?  Do I have seperate copies of the Person class the lite version and the full version.  Think I'd run into problems when I went to deserialize the XML in that scenario.

Regards

Michael.