[Mono-list] c# serialization

[Ricardo Kirkner]

Hi, thanks for your reply, but your answer does not help me out. Maybe it is
because i did not state my problem clear enough. So here it goes again
(right this time, i hope)
I have a class i must serialize into plain xml (i.e. not SOAP) because i
have to write into a predefined xml format specified by a DTD. I think i
have almost got it, but i run into a problem i will hereby explain.
I am using XmlSerializer for my serialization. The problem arises becasue
this serializer does not allow you (or so i think) to define your own
serialization method (such as by implementing the ISerializable interface).
I have a class Z which has variable of type - lets say A - that is an
abstract class, which is implemented by either class B or C. When i
serialize my class Z, then i get something like ...
<A>
    <B></B>
</A>
or
<A>
    <C></C>
</A>

what i would like to have is just the B or C tags, without the A tag
(something like saying to the serializer to ignore the abstract class, but
replace it by one of its implementations).

I dont know if such a thing is possible, but if it is, i hope someone can
give me a hand here.

With regards,

Ricardo Kirkner



----- Original Message -----
From: "A Rafael D Teixeira" <rafaelteixeirabr@hotmail.com>
To: <mono@kirkner.com.ar>; <mono-list@lists.ximian.com>
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Mono-list] c# serialization


> >From: "Ricardo Kirkner" <mono@kirkner.com.ar>
>
> >I would like to serialize a class that has the following structure (this
is
> >an abstraction)
> >
> >public var1;
> >public var2;
> >public type;
> >
> >where one instance of this class can only have var1 or var2 instantiated.
> >Therefore I introduced variable type. So I can know which variable is
> >currently the right one (i.e. type=var1 or type=var2).
> >When it comes to serialization, i would like to get only the "used"
> >variable serialized (i.e if type=var1 then I would like to have onle var1
> >serialized, and not both)
>
> >So far i have found that in order to serialize a class i could prepend
the
> >[Serializable] attribute to my class, and it would serialize every public
> >variable. In order not to get variable type serialized, i could prepend
the
> >[XmlIgnore] attribute and that would do the job; but how can i tell that
> >one variable should get serialized based on the contents of another
> >variable of an instance of my class. I was thinking of something like...
>
> >Ricardo Kirkner
>
> First thing: The Serializable attribute is for Binary serialization, not
for
> Xml serialization. These are two very different things...
>
> I think you are probably heading for Xml serialization, so...
>
> Second: If those var1 and var2 are reference types (classes instead of
> structs), just keep the unused one as null, and it won't be serialized to
> xml.
>
> Third: If these are xml simple types (ints, floats, strings, ...), you can
> use a different approach: serializing them as attributes, that besides
being
> more compact has a higher level of control using the xxxSpecified trick.
>
> Example:
>
> [XmlAttribute]
> public int var1;
>
> [XmlIgnore]
> public bool var1Specified
> {
>   get { return type == "var1"; }
> }
>
> [XmlAttribute]
> public string var2;
>
> [XmlIgnore]
> public bool var2Specified
> {
>   get { return type == "var2"; }
> }
>
> public string type;
>
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> Rafael Teixeira
> Brazilian Polymath
> Mono, MonoQLE Hacker
>
>
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