CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wcfdatacontractserializerdatacontract
user153923
user153923

Reputation:

Basics of DataContractAttribute

I'm looking at Microsoft's How to: Create a Basic Data Contract for a Class or Structure, but it leaves me with lots of questions.

They provide this very simplistic example:

using System;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

[DataContract]
public class Person
{
  // This member is serialized.
  [DataMember]
  internal string FullName;

  // This is serialized even though it is private.
  [DataMember]
  private int Age;

  // This is not serialized because the DataMemberAttribute 
  // has not been applied.
  private string MailingAddress;

  // This is not serialized, but the property is.
  private string telephoneNumberValue;

  [DataMember]
  public string TelephoneNumber
  {
    get { return telephoneNumberValue; }
    set { telephoneNumberValue = value; }
  }
}

For my case, I need this to also include another custom class object called ADUser (Active Directory User).

I understand that ADUser has to be marked with the DataContractAttribute, but I do not understand how exactly to go about that.

Here is Microsoft's class again, but this time with the ADUser field added:

using System;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

[DataContract]
public class Person
{
  // This member is serialized.
  [DataMember]
  internal string FullName;

  // This is serialized even though it is private.
  [DataMember]
  private int Age;

  // This is not serialized because the DataMemberAttribute 
  // has not been applied.
  private string MailingAddress;

  // This is not serialized, but the property is.
  private string telephoneNumberValue;

  [DataMember]
  public string TelephoneNumber
  {
    get { return telephoneNumberValue; }
    set { telephoneNumberValue = value; }
  }

  [DataMember]
  public ADUser UserInfo { get; set; }

}

I don't really understand how or what all needs to be done to my ADUser class, but I feel certain that private stuff can be left untouched.

How would I need to fix this ADUser class example?

public class ADUser
{

  private string first, last, loginID;

  public ADUser() {
    first = null;
    last = null;
    loginID = null;
  }

  private void getInfo() {
    // code goes here
    // which sets loginID;
  }

  public void SetName(string first, string last) {
    this.first = first;
    this.last = last;
    getInfo();
  }

  public string LoginID { get { return loginID; } }

}

Upvotes: 3

Views: 15092

Answers (1)

evgenyl
evgenyl

Reputation: 8107

As @outcoldman and @EthanLi suggested:

  1. Add the [DataContract] attribute to the ADUser class.

  2. Add a public constructor without arguments.

  3. Choose the fields you want to pass through WCF. Mark all of them with the [DataMember] attribute.

  4. Properties with only getters will fail during serialization: all exposed properties should have both a getter and (public!) setter. So, for example, your LoginID property will fail if you'll try to apply the [DataMember] attribute to it. In this case, consider changing it to be the method.

Upvotes: 5

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