XmlSerializer, sgen.exe and generics

Question

I have a generic type:

public class Packet<T> where T : IContent
{
    private int id;
    public int Id { get { return this.id; } }

    private T content;
    public T Content { get { return this.content; } }
}

I want to deserialize/serialize instances of this type from/to XML. IContent is defined like that:

public interface IContent
{
    XmlSerializer Serializer{get;}
}

Basically, I would like the Packet to use the serializer provided by its content to serialize and deserialize its content member. This serializer is in fact an instance of a pre-compiled xml serializer generated by sgen.exe.

Is it possible without making Packet<T> implementing IXmlSerializable?

Answer 1

Yes, you can implement a custom class directly with IXmlSerializable.
For more information, see this article.

Answer 2

If you're using Generic Type, it is not able to generate a pre-completed XmlSerializer.