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c#wcfserialization
Mathias Lykkegaard Lorenzen
Mathias Lykkegaard Lorenzen

Reputation: 15906

WCF serialization - convert to different type on the fly?

I have a WCF service interface that looks like this:

[ServiceContract(Namespace = "http://somenamespace", SessionMode = SessionMode.NotAllowed)]
public interface IRuntimeService
{

    [OperationContract]
    ISupporterProperties CreateOrModifySupporter(Guid id);

}

And the implementation (both on the client and the server) looks like this (it is hosted and connected to programmatically):

public IOwnerProperties CreateOrModifyOwner(Guid id)
{

    //get an owner ...

    //the owner is of type Owner which implements IOwnerProperties.
    return theOwner;

}

However, the issue is here that WCF will try to serialize or deserialize this as an Owner since that is the actual type being returned, but I would like it to send it over as a OwnerDataContract which also happens to implement IOwnerProperties.

In other words, I want to return an Owner, but make it serialize/deserialize it as a OwnerDataContract.

I am aware that I can create a wrapper class for the client's interface. However, I would like to have as much shared code as possible.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 58

Answers (1)

Scott Chamberlain
Scott Chamberlain

Reputation: 127603

This is perfect job for AutoMapper. If Owner and OwnerDataContract have the same properties and fields the setup is as simple as

static void Main()
{
    //Do this once at program startup
    Mapper.CreateMap<Owner, OwnerDataContract>();

    //Run the rest of your program.
}

If you need to remap some properties due to flattening or renaming there will be more setup work, see the wiki for more info.

To use the mapping it is as simple as

public IOwnerProperties CreateOrModifyOwner(Guid id)
{

    //get an owner ...

    //Mapper.Map retuns a object of type OwnerDataContract
    return Mapper.Map<OwnerDataContract>(theOwner);
}

Upvotes: 1

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