CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#serialization
El Mac
El Mac

Reputation: 3419

C# Serializing properties with custom values

I want to serialize a class with a lot of properties. Some of those properties are complex. There are some of the type Bitmap, Color and much more, and they do not get serialized at all.

The approach I am using is the following:

        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyObject));

        MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();

        serializer.Serialize(stream, obj);

        stream.Flush();
        stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

        XmlDocument returnDoc = new XmlDocument();
        returnDoc.Load(stream);

How can I create "custom" approaches for those complex properties? Until now I created the XML-Documents myself and went trough every single property and converted it to text.

An other example where I need this is on references. This class has got some references to other classes. I don't want the whole subclass to be serialized, but only the name of it.

I am sure there are different approaches on how to accomplish this. What would be the best way to go?

I already tought of making extra properties and ignoring the others (XmlIgnore()), but that would be an overhead.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 97

Answers (2)

Igor Ševo
Igor Ševo

Reputation: 5515

For properties that are not serializable you need to implement the serialization yourself. You could serialize these objects to a byte array and then use Base64 encoding to place them to XML. Check out the following link: XmlSerializer , base64 encode a String member.

However, if you do not need to serialize into XML, you can use binary serialization which will work on all properties.

Upvotes: 0

Marc Gravell
Marc Gravell

Reputation: 1062865

Your best bet is to stop trying to serialize your domain model, and create a DTO model that represents just what you want to store, in the way you want to store it (i.e. geared towards your chosen serializer).

If you want to store a bitmap, then you probably want a byte[] property. If you want to store the name of something - a string. Then just map between them. Simple, pain-free, and much easier than trying to fight a serializer into doing something that it doesn't want to do.

Upvotes: 1

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