Why isn't there an XML-serializable dictionary in .NET?

The thing about XML Serialization is that it's not just about creating a stream of bytes. It's also about creating an XML Schema that this stream of bytes would validate against. There's no good way in XML Schema to represent a dictionary. The best you could do is to show that there's a unique key.

You can always create your own wrapper, for instance One Way to Serialize Dictionaries.

They added one in .NET 3.0. If you can, add a reference to System.Runtime.Serialization and look for System.Xml.XmlDictionary, System.Xml.XmlDictionaryReader, and System.Xml.XmlDictionaryWriter.

I would agree that it is not in a particularly discoverable place.

Create one of your own :-), the readonly feature is bonus but if you need a key other than a string then the class needs some modifications...

namespace MyNameSpace
{
    [XmlRoot("SerializableDictionary")]
    public class SerializableDictionary : Dictionary<String, Object>, IXmlSerializable
    {
        internal Boolean _ReadOnly = false;
        public Boolean ReadOnly
        {
            get
            {
                return this._ReadOnly;
            }

            set
            {
                this.CheckReadOnly();
                this._ReadOnly = value;
            }
        }

        public new Object this[String key]
        {
            get
            {
                Object value;

                return this.TryGetValue(key, out value) ? value : null;
            }

            set
            {
                this.CheckReadOnly();

                if(value != null)
                {
                    base[key] = value;
                }
                else
                {
                    this.Remove(key);
                }               
            }
        }

        internal void CheckReadOnly()
        {
            if(this._ReadOnly)
            {
                throw new Exception("Collection is read only");
            }
        }

        public new void Clear()
        {
            this.CheckReadOnly();

            base.Clear();
        }

        public new void Add(String key, Object value)
        {
            this.CheckReadOnly();

            base.Add(key, value);
        }

        public new void Remove(String key)
        {
            this.CheckReadOnly();

            base.Remove(key);
        }

        public XmlSchema GetSchema()
        {
            return null;
        }

        public void ReadXml(XmlReader reader)
        {
            Boolean wasEmpty = reader.IsEmptyElement;

            reader.Read();

            if(wasEmpty)
            {
                return;
            }

            while(reader.NodeType != XmlNodeType.EndElement)
            {
                if(reader.Name == "Item")
                {
                    String key = reader.GetAttribute("Key");
                    Type type = Type.GetType(reader.GetAttribute("TypeName"));

                    reader.Read();
                    if(type != null)
                    {
                        this.Add(key, new XmlSerializer(type).Deserialize(reader));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        reader.Skip();
                    }
                    reader.ReadEndElement();

                    reader.MoveToContent();
                }
                else
                {
                    reader.ReadToFollowing("Item");
                }

            reader.ReadEndElement();
        }

        public void WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
        {
            foreach(KeyValuePair<String, Object> item in this)
            {
                writer.WriteStartElement("Item");
                writer.WriteAttributeString("Key", item.Key);
                writer.WriteAttributeString("TypeName", item.Value.GetType().AssemblyQualifiedName);

                new XmlSerializer(item.Value.GetType()).Serialize(writer, item.Value);

                writer.WriteEndElement();
            }
        }

    }
}