diff --git a/generator/FieldBase.cs b/generator/FieldBase.cs
index 353c6c553..053e98aa9 100644
--- a/generator/FieldBase.cs
+++ b/generator/FieldBase.cs
@@ -42,12 +42,16 @@ namespace GtkSharp.Generation {
 
 		protected virtual bool Readable {
 			get {
+				if (Parser.GetVersion (elem.OwnerDocument.DocumentElement) <= 2)
+					return elem.GetAttribute ("readable") != "false";
 				return elem.HasAttribute ("readable") && elem.GetAttributeAsBoolean ("readable");
 			}
 		}
 
 		protected virtual bool Writable {
 			get {
+				if (Parser.GetVersion (elem.OwnerDocument.DocumentElement) <= 2)
+					return elem.GetAttribute ("writeable") != "false";
 				return elem.HasAttribute ("writeable") && elem.GetAttributeAsBoolean ("writeable");
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/generator/Parameters.cs b/generator/Parameters.cs
index c2c50dbd6..2ea48d260 100644
--- a/generator/Parameters.cs
+++ b/generator/Parameters.cs
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ namespace GtkSharp.Generation {
 		private bool throws = false;
 		public bool Throws {
 			get {
-				if (ParserVersion <= 2)
+				if (Parser.GetVersion (elem.OwnerDocument.DocumentElement) <= 2)
 					return true;
 				if (!throws && elem.HasAttribute ("throws"))
 					throws = elem.GetAttributeAsBoolean ("throws");
@@ -289,12 +289,5 @@ namespace GtkSharp.Generation {
 				return String.Join (", ", result);
 			}
 		}
-
-		private int ParserVersion {
-			get {
-				XmlElement root = elem.OwnerDocument.DocumentElement;
-				return root.HasAttribute ("parser_version") ? int.Parse (root.GetAttribute ("parser_version")) : 1;
-			}
-		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/generator/Parser.cs b/generator/Parser.cs
index 6b92b0aaf..b7bfa5f98 100644
--- a/generator/Parser.cs
+++ b/generator/Parser.cs
@@ -187,6 +187,12 @@ namespace GtkSharp.Generation {
 			return result;
 		}
 
+		internal static int GetVersion (XmlElement document_element)
+		{
+			XmlElement root = document_element;
+			return root.HasAttribute ("parser_version") ? int.Parse (root.GetAttribute ("parser_version")) : 1;
+		}
+
 		private IGeneratable ParseSymbol (XmlElement symbol)
 		{
 			string type = symbol.GetAttribute ("type");