Nested class no longer nested in web reference

Question

I have a class in a web service that has a nested class in it.

namespace MyWS
{
    // web service class with web methods etc. here

    public class SomeClass
    {
        // fields, properties, stuff etc.

        public class NestedClass
        {
            // ...
        }
    }
}

When I try to make a web reference out of the web service, NestedClass is no longer nested and is outside of SomeClass as a standalone class in the reference (accessed through MyWS.NestedClass). Is there any way to force it to stay nested when web reference is generated next time? Some kind of attribute maybe?

I'm using .NET 2.0 and VS 2005, if it makes any difference. If possible please don't suggest upgrading to newer technology/environment as a solution.

EDIT: It's not a matter of architecture. I don't really need the class to be nested there and I can easily change it so it makes more sense. I just wonder if it's possible to force it to be nested in the reference if I wanted to.

Out of curiosity, why do you want a public class to be nested? I would have thought a nested class existed mainly to provide some extra internal functionality to to the containing class. Also, have you tried changing the internal class modifier to `Private` (unless you absolutely _need_ it public)? I don't know if it will make any difference, but may be worth a try. Perhaps it must be compiled as a separate class in that case.. — Kjartan, Oct 22 '13 at 06:57
@Kjartan I don't really need it nested at all. It's more of a situation when you run into something you don't expect and then you wonder why it happened and if it's possible to force the behavior you expected. I guess I should have stated in the question in the first place. — S_F, Oct 22 '13 at 07:05

H H · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-22T07:49:50.763

1

When you define a service like this, it gets translated to WSDL first. That WSDL is then imported in the client tools and used to create classes and code in the importing language.

Now consider a language that does not support nesting of Classes, what should happen there?

A Service definition is limited to a common denominator of language features. Nested types are not part of the feature set.

There are other C# features that you can't (effectively) use.

edited Oct 22 '13 at 07:49

answered Oct 22 '13 at 07:17

H H

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Huh, I never even considered looking at it from the other languages' point of view, especially since I don't really use those which don't support nested classes. Thanks! – S_F Oct 22 '13 at 07:39
There is something like a "code-first" and "WSDL-first" split. VS only supports code-first, for WSDL-first you need the commandline tools. That is true for Fx2/SOAP as well as Fx4/WCF. – H H Oct 22 '13 at 07:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 22 '13 at 07:02

0

This is more architectual problem, then technological, imo.

In your case I see you declare nested class public. There are no much reasons to do that, if not artificially, or declaratively, create a dependency between those 2 types. But this can be done in other way, avoiding nesting, for example:

public class A {
}

public class Dependend {
    //The only available construstor of Dependent is that one which 
    //accepts A type
    public Dependend(A aType) {
    }
}

In this case you have 2 distinct entities (so it's easier to interact with them) and you also construct a strong relationship between them.

answered Oct 22 '13 at 07:02

Tigran

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Thanks for your answer, but it's not the kind of solution I was interested in, sorry. I have updated my question to be more precise about what I'm looking for. – S_F Oct 22 '13 at 07:08
@S_F: don't think you can achieve what you're searching for, honestly. Also because, repeat, there are other possible solutions to logically, or conceptually if you wish, achieve what you are, probably, searching for. – Tigran Oct 22 '13 at 07:10

Nested class no longer nested in web reference

2 Answers2