Can't serialize ArrayList

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steven
  • Start date Start date
S

Steven

Hi guys

I'm trying to serialize a class that includes an ArrayList member. Here's
the class:

[Serializable]
public class InstantiationData
{
public string InstanceTaskAssignedTo;
public string InstanceMailMsg;
public DateTime InstanceDueDate;
public Approvers ADApproversGroup; // this is the ArrayList member //
}

All other members of this class serialize properly, but the Approvers member
(a class which implements IEnumerator) does not. I've set a breakpoint
immediately after the Serialize method is called and inspected the object
which looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<InstantiationData xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<InstanceTaskAssignedTo>cs_ap</InstanceTaskAssignedTo>
<InstanceMailMsg>Test message</InstanceMailMsg>
<InstanceDueDate>2009-11-09</InstanceDueDate>
<ADApproversGroup />
</InstantiationData>

As you can see, the ADApproversGroup node is empty when serialized, but the
class instance shows 2 elements in the arrayList.

I've read that when serializing, it helps to specify the type of object I'm
serializing which I've done as follows:

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

But this doesn't help. Any ideas how to serialize an ArrayList member of a
class?

Tks
 
Steven said:
Hi guys

I'm trying to serialize a class that includes an ArrayList member. Here's
the class:

[Serializable]
public class InstantiationData
{
public string InstanceTaskAssignedTo;
public string InstanceMailMsg;
public DateTime InstanceDueDate;
public Approvers ADApproversGroup; // this is the ArrayList member //
}
Click to expand...

If it's an ArrayList member, why is the type "Approvers"?

It's practically impossible to say without a concise-but-complete code
example. But, it should be obvious that to serialize a member of a
class, that member needs to be serializable, and if it's a collection,
the collection members need to be serializable.

Whether those are _sufficient_ conditions in your case, I can't say.
But for sure, they are necessary.

Pete
 
Hello Steven. Always when I want to serialize a type I start with
creating an xml-schema for the type and then (auto-)generate the
classes. I think it saves time and trouble.
///M

Steven skrev:
 
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