CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#serializationinheritance
Chris
Chris

Reputation: 1050

Serialization of Lists with Inherited Types

I'm working with serialization in C# right now and I've run into a problem that I can't seem to find an answer to. So I have a serializable class with a list of another serializable class as a property. I needed one of the items in the list to have a distinct property in it so I made a subclass and added it to the list as before. That's when the serialization issues popped up so I can only imagine that lists can't be serialized with inherited classes in them, but why? And how would a similar end be met? Anyways, here's an example of what I'm trying to accomplish:

[Serializable]
public class aList
{
    [XmlElement]public List<b> list = new List<b>();

    public aList()
    {
        list.Add(new b());
        list.Add(new b());
        list.Add(new c());
    }
}

[Serializable]
public class b
{
    [XmlElement]public int prop1;
    [XmlElement]public string prop2;

    public b()
    {
        prop1 = 0;
        prop2 = String.Empty;
    }
}

[Serializable]
public class c : b
{
    [XmlElement]public bool prop3;

    public c() : base()
    {
        prop3 = false;
    }
}

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1028

Answers (2)

Nicolas Webb
Nicolas Webb

Reputation: 1322

XmlInclude attributes. They're kind of...janky. Basically, you give attributes to your classes that give hints to the serializer about your inheritance.

Specifically:

[Serializable]
[XmlInclude(typeof(c))]
public class b
{
    [XmlElement]
    public int prop1;

    [XmlElement]
    public string prop2;

    public b()
    {
        prop1 = 0;
        prop2 = String.Empty;
    }
}

Upvotes: 4

Rupal
Rupal

Reputation: 69

May be try using an array instead of a list. An array is serializable if the element it's holding is serializable.

Upvotes: -2

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