C# APP XML Serialization: recognizing type of generic object.

[JSeemann]

Hi there, I have an issue with serializing C# objects to XML using a generic type using System.Xml.Serialization. Say I have classes defined as below:

public class ParentClass
{
     private object _arguments;
 
     public object Arguments
     {
          get { return _arguments; }
          set { _arguments = vale; }
     }
}
 
public class SomeArguments
{
     private string _someValue;
 
     public string SomeValue
     {
         get { return _someValue; }
         set { _someValue = value; }
     }
}

Now if I set the Arguments property of ParentClass to an instance of SomeArguments, I need ParentClass to serialize like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<ParentClass>
<Arguments type="SomeArguments">
<SomeValue>blah</SomeValue>
</Arguments>
</ParentClass>

or alternatively:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<ParentClass>
<Arguments type="SomeArguments">
<SomeArguments>
<SomeValue>blah</SomeValue>
</SomeArguments>
</Arguments>
</ParentClass>

I can sort of get the first functionality by including a [XmlInclude(typeof(SomeArguments))] tag before the definition of the ParentClass class. The problem is, the ParentClass cannot know the type of Arguments. I need the serialization to recognize the type of any class in Arguments. Is this possible? Thanks in advance.

[nateraaaa]

Try adding

[Serializable] above your class definitions. This will allow your class to be serialized and passed via XML over the web.

 [Serializable] 
public class Class1
{
}
 

Nathan