Problems with the DataContractSerialiser and Serializable

Question

I've a few Classes from a assembly which is .Net 2.0. These Classes are marked with Serializable.

In my project, I use these classes in my Classes, which are marked with DataContract(IsReference=true) and DataMember.

Now I have the problem, with DataContractSerialiser that it serializes the private fields of my .Net 2.0 Classes, which will not work. But when I use XMLSerialiser, I cannot use IsReference, and so I can also not do this.

Is there a easy (simple) Solution for this? Maybe a someone has a own XMLSerializer which supports references?

Here is a bit of my code:

[DataContract(IsReference = true)]
public class ConnectionConfig: INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void NotifyPropertyChanged(String info)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
        {
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("ObjectAsString"));
        }
    }

    private PLCConnectionConfiguration _configuration;
    [DataMember]
    public PLCConnectionConfiguration Configuration
    {
        get { return _configuration; }
        set { _configuration = value; NotifyPropertyChanged("Configuration"); }
    }
}

where PLCConnectionConfiguration comes from a .NET 2.0 assembly, and is decorated with [Serializeable]

You mean you don't want it to serialize the private fields (normally DataContractSerializer only serializes the public properties)? Or that you get an error when he tries to and fails? — Vincent Vancalbergh, Mar 11 '11 at 09:36
Yes I dont't want to Serialize private Fields, but DataContractSerializer does this on classes decorated with [Serializable] — Jochen Kühner, Mar 11 '11 at 11:21
It is a class from another asembly, wich I could not change. This class is serializable, but not with the DataContractSerializer, because it serializes the private fields! (Thts my problem!) — Jochen Kühner, Mar 11 '11 at 12:32

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 11 '11 at 10:23

Annotating a type with [DataContract] should be enough to tell it to look for the members marked [DataMember] - but it sounds like maybe you have a combination of data-contracts and vanilla objects.

If you strictly need xml, my recommendation here would be to write a set of DTO types and use DCS in graph-mode. This may require some mapping between your object model and the DTOs; but that is usually not a big problem. Note also that DCS in graph-mode is not typical xml output - it will be very different to what XmlSerializer would output.

If you just need to serialize arbitrary types (xml not being the issue), then the current experimental cut of protobuf-net supports all these scenarios; it'll handle the object references, and it'll allow you to work with both annotated and vanilla types (you just need to tell it how). If that is an option, perhaps provide a basic example of your model and I might be able to fill in some blanks.

I put a Example of my Class into the question! – Jochen Kühner Mar 11 '11 at 11:37 — Jochen Kühner, Mar 11 '11 at 11:37

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 11 '11 at 10:35

You should abstract the WCF datacontracts from your domain models. Consider the datacontracts to be a view of the model that you want to return in your service.

Annotate your datacontract with a [DataContract] attribute and all the properties you want to expose with a [DataMember] attribute. If there are properties you don't want to return you just DON'T annotate it with the [DataMember] attribute.

If you want your domain models to be XmlSerializable you annotate the class with the [Serializable] attribute.

It may require some additional typing and converting but its clearer overall imho.

You could also reduce the time spent converting from domain model object to data contract object using something like AutoMapper - http://automapper.codeplex.com/ — MattC, Mar 11 '11 at 11:09

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 17 '11 at 07:04

0

Perhaps you could use XmlSerializer and specify XmlAttributeOverrides to ignore the private fields you're not interested in:

var overrides = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
overrides.Add(typeof(PLCConnectionConfiguration), <name of private field to exclude>, new XmlAttributes { XmlIgnore = true });
...
var serialiser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ConnectionConfig), overrides);

You'd obviously also have to mark your ConnectionConfig as Serializable and add [XmlIgnore] to the _configuration field.

answered Mar 17 '11 at 07:04

Kai G

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With the XMLSerializer it would work, but I wanted to use the DataContractSerializer because it supports References! – Jochen Kühner Mar 18 '11 at 09:08
I now solved it with the XMLSerializer, and rebuilding my References after Serializing, but I don't like this solution! – Jochen Kühner Mar 18 '11 at 09:09

Problems with the DataContractSerialiser and Serializable

3 Answers3

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