I'd like to know how I can have Imports in my custom ExportProvider. Here's an example of what I'm trying to do:
public class MyExportProvider : ExportProvider
{
private List<Export> _exports;
[Import()]
private IConfig _config;
public MyExportProvider()
base()
{
_exports = new List<Export>();
}
protected override IEnumerable<Export> GetExportsCore(ImportDefinition definition,
AtomicComposition composition)
{
if (!_exports.Any())
Initialize();
return _exports.Where(x => definition.IsConstraintSatisfiedBy(s.Definition);
}
private void Initialize()
{
var contractName = typeof(MyObject).FullName;
var exportDefinition = new ExportDefinition(contractName, null);
var export = new Export(exportDefinition, () => new MyObject(_config));
_exports.Add(export);
}
}
I am adding the provider when I create the CompositionContainer.
Unfortunately, the import is never satisfied. I can see this by setting AllowDefaults = true so my provider is created, but _config is always null.
How can I configure the container and/or provider so the Import will be satisfied?
When you are adding your export provider you are still creating your composition container. Thus I don't see how you can use the not yet created composition container to import parts of your custom export provider.
What I would do is first create a temporary CompositionContainer that will be used to create MyExportProvider.
Afterwards use the MyExportProvider to create your second final CompositionContainer that will be used by the rest of the application.
EDIT:
// this is your real container, only shown here for reference
CompositionContainer container;
public void BootstrapContainerMethod()
{
// Replace this part with the catalogs required to create your export provider.
var catalog = new AggregateCatalog();
catalog.Catalogs.Add(new DirectoryCatalog("./bin", "*.dll"));
// Your temporary container, declared here in local scope
// will be disposed because of using
using (var bootstrapContainer = new CompositionContainer(catalog))
{
var myExportProvider = bootstrapContainer.GetExportedValue<IMyExportProvider>();
// create your real container and optionnally add catalogs (not shown here)
container = new CompositionContainer(myExportProvider);
}
}
You might also consider the problem from another angle. Do you really need to have imports in your custom ExportProvider? I do not know your requirements, but maybe you can make do without having imports.
As an alternative to the dual CompositionContainer solution, you could wire this up in a single export provider, and have it compose itself using the same container. As an example, I've defined the following contract and it's export:
public interface ILogger
{
void Log(string message);
}
[Export(typeof(ILogger))]
public class ConsoleLogger : ILogger
{
public void Log(string message)
{
Console.WriteLine(message);
}
}
And with my example ExportProvider, I expect to be able to import an instance of it:
public class TestExportProvider : ExportProvider
{
private readonly object _lock = new object();
private bool _initialised;
[Import]
public ILogger Logger { get; set; }
public void SetCompositionService(ICompositionService service)
{
if (service == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("service");
lock (_lock)
{
if (!_initialised)
{
InitialiseProvider(service);
}
}
}
private void InitialiseProvider(ICompositionService service)
{
service.SatisfyImportsOnce(this);
_initialised = true;
}
protected override IEnumerable<Export> GetExportsCore(ImportDefinition definition, AtomicComposition atomicComposition)
{
if (_initialised)
{
Logger.Log("Getting available exports for '" + definition.ContractName + "'");
// Do work here.);
return Enumerable.Empty<Export>();
}
return Enumerable.Empty<Export>();
}
}
I provide an instance of an ICompositionService, which CompositionContainer implements, and I perform a first-time initialisation when I call SetCompositionService. It checks to see if it has already been initialised, and if not, goes ahead and calls the SatisfyImportsOnce method on itself.
We would wire this up, something like this:
// Build our catalog.
var catalog = new AssemblyCatalog(typeof(Program).Assembly);
// Create our provider.
var provider = new TestExportProvider();
// Create our container.
var container = new CompositionContainer(catalog, provider);
// Register the composition service to satisfy it's own imports.
provider.SetCompositionService(container);
Obviously you wouldn't be able to use any imports and your ExportProvider will explicitly create for you, but for everything else, it should work.
Could anyone help me in assessing why the code below doesn't work. I'm using the common extension method for implementing Include when using IObjectset. In our repositories we were seeing this not returning correctly so I've isolated the code in test app as below. I've also included the interface based Context if this may prove relevant and a screenshot of the relevant model section. This occurs for all Includes on IObjectSet properties not just the DPASelections one I've chosen for this example.
If I update the context to return ObjectSet (still using the POCO entities) rather than IObjectSet it all works fine. When using IObjectSet and the extension method and step through the code I see that the extension method is completing correctly with a call to the ObjectQuery we're casting to but the included entities are never returned on the graph. As said, this works perfectly when I don't interface out the Context and return ObjectSet properties hence calling Include directly on ObjectSet.
I'm not getting any errors on executing the query so this isn't the same as several other questions on SO which refer to compiled queries.
Has anyone else experienced problems with this extension method implementation or can anyone spot what I'm doing wrong here?
Any help very much appreciated.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (var context = new AssocEntities())
{
context.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
Candidate candidate = context.Candidates
.Include("DPASelections.DPAOption")
.SingleOrDefault(c => c.Number == "N100064");
//Count is 0 when using ext. method and IObjectSet through AssocContext but correct when using Include
//on ObjectSet through AssocContext
Console.WriteLine("DPASelection count = {0}",candidate.DPASelections.Count);
//This is always null when using IObjectSet and ext. method but populated
//when using Include on ObjectSet
var option = candidate.DPASelections.First().DPAOption;
Console.WriteLine("First DPAOption = {0} : {1}",option.Id,option.Text);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
public static class Extensions
{
public static IQueryable<TSource> Include<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, string path)
{
var objectQuery = source as ObjectQuery<TSource>;
if (objectQuery != null)
{
objectQuery.Include(path);
}
return source;
}
}
//Subset of custom context implementing IObjectSet as returns.
//Works fine when I return ObjectSet rather than IObjectSet and use
//the Include method directly
public partial class AssocEntities : ObjectContext
{
public const string ConnectionString = "name=AssocEntities";
public const string ContainerName = "AssocEntities";
#region Constructors
public AssocEntities()
: base(ConnectionString, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
public AssocEntities(string connectionString)
: base(connectionString, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
public AssocEntities(EntityConnection connection)
: base(connection, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
#endregion
#region IObjectSet Properties
public IObjectSet<Address> Addresses
{
get { return _addresses ?? (_addresses = CreateObjectSet<Address>("Addresses")); }
}
private IObjectSet<Address> _addresses;
public IObjectSet<Answer> Answers
{
get { return _answers ?? (_answers = CreateObjectSet<Answer>("Answers")); }
}
private IObjectSet<Answer> _answers;
public IObjectSet<Candidate> Candidates
{
get { return _candidates ?? (_candidates = CreateObjectSet<Candidate>("Candidates")); }
}
}
And the model...
I needed to replace objectQuery.Include(path); with objectQuery = objectQuery.Include(path);
In .Net framework 4.0 there is a build-in Extentionmethod for Include
just add the System.Data.Entity namespace.
It uses reflection - here is how it works:
private static T CommonInclude<T>(T source, string path)
{
MethodInfo method = source.GetType().GetMethod("Include", DbExtensions.StringIncludeTypes);
if (!(method != (MethodInfo) null) || !typeof (T).IsAssignableFrom(method.ReturnType))
return source;
return (T) method.Invoke((object) source, new object[1]
{
(object) path
});
}
This question relates to my other post.
Ok so after a bit more messing around I decided to do it this way. Which seems to work fine when I run it, although I'm getting the following error in NUnit: Could not load file or assembly 'Castle.Core, Version=1.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=407dd0808d44fbdc' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040) So not sure what is happening there???
Just wanted to know what others thought about the design and if there are any obvious 'no no's' or improvements. I.e. Is the constructor of the base handler a good place to instantiate the windsor component or is there a better place to do this? As I said in the original post the idea behind doing things this way was to keep the components nicely decoupled and to make unit testing easy. I should also add I'm new to unit testing, mocking. Thanks!
public abstract class BaseHttpHandler : IHttpHandler
{
private HttpContext _httpContext;
private ILogger _logger;
private IDataRepository _dataRepository;
protected HttpRequest Request { get { return _httpContext.Request; } }
protected HttpResponse Response { get { return _httpContext.Response; } }
protected bool IsRequestFromUAD { get { return Request.UserAgent == null ? false : Request.UserAgent.Equals("UAD"); } }
protected ILogger Logger { get { return _logger; } }
protected IDataRepository DataRepository { get { return _dataRepository; } }
public virtual bool IsReusable { get { return false; } }
public BaseHttpHandler()
{
var container = new WindsorContainer(new XmlInterpreter(new ConfigResource("castle")));
_logger = container.Resolve<ILogger>();
_dataRepository = container.Resolve<IDataRepository>();
}
public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
_httpContext = context;
ProcessRequest(new HttpContextWrapper(context));
}
public abstract void ProcessRequest(HttpContextBase context);
}
public class UADRecordHttpHandler : BaseHttpHandler
{
public override void ProcessRequest(HttpContextBase context)
{
if (IsRequestFromUAD)
{
using (var reader = new StreamReader(context.Request.InputStream))
{
string data = reader.ReadToEnd();
if (Logger != null)
Logger.Log(data);
if(DataRepository != null)
DataRepository.Write(data);
context.Response.Write(data);
}
}
else
ReturnResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
}
}
That's a very bad thing to do, what you're doing here. You should have one instance of the container per application, while with this code you will have one per each request.
About the error in NUnit: make sure you don't have other versions of Castle assemblies in the GAC. If so, uninstall them.
About your BaseHttpHandler: the problem with this implementation is that you're creating a new container. Instead, use a single container per application, like Krzysztof said. Use a static service locator, e.g. CommonServiceLocator. (I never recommend this but it's one of the few places where it does make sense).
The code looks like this:
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;
using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(builder, settings))
{
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(objectToSerialize.GetType());
s.Serialize(xmlWriter, objectToSerialize);
}
The resulting serialized document includes namespaces, like so:
<message xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\"
xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\"
xmlns="urn:something">
...
</message>
To remove the xsi and xsd namespaces, I can follow the answer from How to serialize an object to XML without getting xmlns=”…”?.
I want my message tag as <message> (without any namespace attributes). How can I do this?
...
XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(objectToSerialize.GetType());
XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
ns.Add("","");
s.Serialize(xmlWriter, objectToSerialize, ns);
This is the 2nd of two answers.
If you want to just strip all namespaces arbitrarily from a document during serialization, you can do this by implementing your own XmlWriter.
The easiest way is to derive from XmlTextWriter and override the StartElement method that emits namespaces. The StartElement method is invoked by the XmlSerializer when emitting any elements, including the root. By overriding the namespace for each element, and replacing it with the empty string, you've stripped the namespaces from the output.
public class NoNamespaceXmlWriter : XmlTextWriter
{
//Provide as many contructors as you need
public NoNamespaceXmlWriter(System.IO.TextWriter output)
: base(output) { Formatting= System.Xml.Formatting.Indented;}
public override void WriteStartDocument () { }
public override void WriteStartElement(string prefix, string localName, string ns)
{
base.WriteStartElement("", localName, "");
}
}
Suppose this is the type:
// explicitly specify a namespace for this type,
// to be used during XML serialization.
[XmlRoot(Namespace="urn:Abracadabra")]
public class MyTypeWithNamespaces
{
// private fields backing the properties
private int _Epoch;
private string _Label;
// explicitly define a distinct namespace for this element
[XmlElement(Namespace="urn:Whoohoo")]
public string Label
{
set { _Label= value; }
get { return _Label; }
}
// this property will be implicitly serialized to XML using the
// member name for the element name, and inheriting the namespace from
// the type.
public int Epoch
{
set { _Epoch= value; }
get { return _Epoch; }
}
}
Here's how you would use such a thing during serialization:
var o2= new MyTypeWithNamespaces { ..intializers.. };
var builder = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
using ( XmlWriter writer = new NoNamespaceXmlWriter(new System.IO.StringWriter(builder)))
{
s2.Serialize(writer, o2, ns2);
}
Console.WriteLine("{0}",builder.ToString());
The XmlTextWriter is sort of broken, though. According to the reference doc, when it writes it does not check for the following:
Invalid characters in attribute and element names.
Unicode characters that do not fit the specified encoding. If the Unicode
characters do not fit the specified
encoding, the XmlTextWriter does not
escape the Unicode characters into
character entities.
Duplicate attributes.
Characters in the DOCTYPE public
identifier or system identifier.
These problems with XmlTextWriter have been around since v1.1 of the .NET Framework, and they will remain, for backward compatibility. If you have no concerns about those problems, then by all means use the XmlTextWriter. But most people would like a bit more reliability.
To get that, while still suppressing namespaces during serialization, instead of deriving from XmlTextWriter, define a concrete implementation of the abstract XmlWriter and its 24 methods.
An example is here:
public class XmlWriterWrapper : XmlWriter
{
protected XmlWriter writer;
public XmlWriterWrapper(XmlWriter baseWriter)
{
this.Writer = baseWriter;
}
public override void Close()
{
this.writer.Close();
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
((IDisposable) this.writer).Dispose();
}
public override void Flush()
{
this.writer.Flush();
}
public override string LookupPrefix(string ns)
{
return this.writer.LookupPrefix(ns);
}
public override void WriteBase64(byte[] buffer, int index, int count)
{
this.writer.WriteBase64(buffer, index, count);
}
public override void WriteCData(string text)
{
this.writer.WriteCData(text);
}
public override void WriteCharEntity(char ch)
{
this.writer.WriteCharEntity(ch);
}
public override void WriteChars(char[] buffer, int index, int count)
{
this.writer.WriteChars(buffer, index, count);
}
public override void WriteComment(string text)
{
this.writer.WriteComment(text);
}
public override void WriteDocType(string name, string pubid, string sysid, string subset)
{
this.writer.WriteDocType(name, pubid, sysid, subset);
}
public override void WriteEndAttribute()
{
this.writer.WriteEndAttribute();
}
public override void WriteEndDocument()
{
this.writer.WriteEndDocument();
}
public override void WriteEndElement()
{
this.writer.WriteEndElement();
}
public override void WriteEntityRef(string name)
{
this.writer.WriteEntityRef(name);
}
public override void WriteFullEndElement()
{
this.writer.WriteFullEndElement();
}
public override void WriteProcessingInstruction(string name, string text)
{
this.writer.WriteProcessingInstruction(name, text);
}
public override void WriteRaw(string data)
{
this.writer.WriteRaw(data);
}
public override void WriteRaw(char[] buffer, int index, int count)
{
this.writer.WriteRaw(buffer, index, count);
}
public override void WriteStartAttribute(string prefix, string localName, string ns)
{
this.writer.WriteStartAttribute(prefix, localName, ns);
}
public override void WriteStartDocument()
{
this.writer.WriteStartDocument();
}
public override void WriteStartDocument(bool standalone)
{
this.writer.WriteStartDocument(standalone);
}
public override void WriteStartElement(string prefix, string localName, string ns)
{
this.writer.WriteStartElement(prefix, localName, ns);
}
public override void WriteString(string text)
{
this.writer.WriteString(text);
}
public override void WriteSurrogateCharEntity(char lowChar, char highChar)
{
this.writer.WriteSurrogateCharEntity(lowChar, highChar);
}
public override void WriteValue(bool value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(DateTime value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(decimal value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(double value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(int value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(long value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(object value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(float value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteValue(string value)
{
this.writer.WriteValue(value);
}
public override void WriteWhitespace(string ws)
{
this.writer.WriteWhitespace(ws);
}
public override XmlWriterSettings Settings
{
get
{
return this.writer.Settings;
}
}
protected XmlWriter Writer
{
get
{
return this.writer;
}
set
{
this.writer = value;
}
}
public override System.Xml.WriteState WriteState
{
get
{
return this.writer.WriteState;
}
}
public override string XmlLang
{
get
{
return this.writer.XmlLang;
}
}
public override System.Xml.XmlSpace XmlSpace
{
get
{
return this.writer.XmlSpace;
}
}
}
Then, provide a derived class that overrides the StartElement method, as before:
public class NamespaceSupressingXmlWriter : XmlWriterWrapper
{
//Provide as many contructors as you need
public NamespaceSupressingXmlWriter(System.IO.TextWriter output)
: base(XmlWriter.Create(output)) { }
public NamespaceSupressingXmlWriter(XmlWriter output)
: base(XmlWriter.Create(output)) { }
public override void WriteStartElement(string prefix, string localName, string ns)
{
base.WriteStartElement("", localName, "");
}
}
And then use this writer like so:
var o2= new MyTypeWithNamespaces { ..intializers.. };
var builder = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
var settings = new XmlWriterSettings { OmitXmlDeclaration = true, Indent= true };
using ( XmlWriter innerWriter = XmlWriter.Create(builder, settings))
using ( XmlWriter writer = new NamespaceSupressingXmlWriter(innerWriter))
{
s2.Serialize(writer, o2, ns2);
}
Console.WriteLine("{0}",builder.ToString());
Credit for this to Oleg Tkachenko.
After reading Microsoft's documentation and several solutions online, I have discovered the solution to this problem. It works with both the built-in XmlSerializer and custom XML serialization via IXmlSerialiazble.
To wit, I'll use the same MyTypeWithNamespaces XML sample that's been used in the answers to this question so far.
[XmlRoot("MyTypeWithNamespaces", Namespace="urn:Abracadabra", IsNullable=false)]
public class MyTypeWithNamespaces
{
// As noted below, per Microsoft's documentation, if the class exposes a public
// member of type XmlSerializerNamespaces decorated with the
// XmlNamespacesDeclarationAttribute, then the XmlSerializer will utilize those
// namespaces during serialization.
public MyTypeWithNamespaces( )
{
this._namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new XmlQualifiedName[] {
// Don't do this!! Microsoft's documentation explicitly says it's not supported.
// It doesn't throw any exceptions, but in my testing, it didn't always work.
// new XmlQualifiedName(string.Empty, string.Empty), // And don't do this:
// new XmlQualifiedName("", "")
// DO THIS:
new XmlQualifiedName(string.Empty, "urn:Abracadabra") // Default Namespace
// Add any other namespaces, with prefixes, here.
});
}
// If you have other constructors, make sure to call the default constructor.
public MyTypeWithNamespaces(string label, int epoch) : this( )
{
this._label = label;
this._epoch = epoch;
}
// An element with a declared namespace different than the namespace
// of the enclosing type.
[XmlElement(Namespace="urn:Whoohoo")]
public string Label
{
get { return this._label; }
set { this._label = value; }
}
private string _label;
// An element whose tag will be the same name as the property name.
// Also, this element will inherit the namespace of the enclosing type.
public int Epoch
{
get { return this._epoch; }
set { this._epoch = value; }
}
private int _epoch;
// Per Microsoft's documentation, you can add some public member that
// returns a XmlSerializerNamespaces object. They use a public field,
// but that's sloppy. So I'll use a private backed-field with a public
// getter property. Also, per the documentation, for this to work with
// the XmlSerializer, decorate it with the XmlNamespaceDeclarations
// attribute.
[XmlNamespaceDeclarations]
public XmlSerializerNamespaces Namespaces
{
get { return this._namespaces; }
}
private XmlSerializerNamespaces _namespaces;
}
That's all to this class. Now, some objected to having an XmlSerializerNamespaces object somewhere within their classes; but as you can see, I neatly tucked it away in the default constructor and exposed a public property to return the namespaces.
Now, when it comes time to serialize the class, you would use the following code:
MyTypeWithNamespaces myType = new MyTypeWithNamespaces("myLabel", 42);
/******
OK, I just figured I could do this to make the code shorter, so I commented out the
below and replaced it with what follows:
// You have to use this constructor in order for the root element to have the right namespaces.
// If you need to do custom serialization of inner objects, you can use a shortened constructor.
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces), new XmlAttributeOverrides(),
new Type[]{}, new XmlRootAttribute("MyTypeWithNamespaces"), "urn:Abracadabra");
******/
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces),
new XmlRootAttribute("MyTypeWithNamespaces") { Namespace="urn:Abracadabra" });
// I'll use a MemoryStream as my backing store.
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
// This is extra! If you want to change the settings for the XmlSerializer, you have to create
// a separate XmlWriterSettings object and use the XmlTextWriter.Create(...) factory method.
// So, in this case, I want to omit the XML declaration.
XmlWriterSettings xws = new XmlWriterSettings();
xws.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;
xws.Encoding = Encoding.UTF8; // This is probably the default
// You could use the XmlWriterSetting to set indenting and new line options, but the
// XmlTextWriter class has a much easier method to accomplish that.
// The factory method returns a XmlWriter, not a XmlTextWriter, so cast it.
XmlTextWriter xtw = (XmlTextWriter)XmlTextWriter.Create(ms, xws);
// Then we can set our indenting options (this is, of course, optional).
xtw.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
// Now serialize our object.
xs.Serialize(xtw, myType, myType.Namespaces);
Once you have done this, you should get the following output:
<MyTypeWithNamespaces>
<Label xmlns="urn:Whoohoo">myLabel</Label>
<Epoch>42</Epoch>
</MyTypeWithNamespaces>
I have successfully used this method in a recent project with a deep hierachy of classes that are serialized to XML for web service calls. Microsoft's documentation is not very clear about what to do with the publicly accesible XmlSerializerNamespaces member once you've created it, and so many think it's useless. But by following their documentation and using it in the manner shown above, you can customize how the XmlSerializer generates XML for your classes without resorting to unsupported behavior or "rolling your own" serialization by implementing IXmlSerializable.
It is my hope that this answer will put to rest, once and for all, how to get rid of the standard xsi and xsd namespaces generated by the XmlSerializer.
UPDATE: I just want to make sure I answered the OP's question about removing all namespaces. My code above will work for this; let me show you how. Now, in the example above, you really can't get rid of all namespaces (because there are two namespaces in use). Somewhere in your XML document, you're going to need to have something like xmlns="urn:Abracadabra" xmlns:w="urn:Whoohoo. If the class in the example is part of a larger document, then somewhere above a namespace must be declared for either one of (or both) Abracadbra and Whoohoo. If not, then the element in one or both of the namespaces must be decorated with a prefix of some sort (you can't have two default namespaces, right?). So, for this example, Abracadabra is the defalt namespace. I could inside my MyTypeWithNamespaces class add a namespace prefix for the Whoohoo namespace like so:
public MyTypeWithNamespaces
{
this._namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new XmlQualifiedName[] {
new XmlQualifiedName(string.Empty, "urn:Abracadabra"), // Default Namespace
new XmlQualifiedName("w", "urn:Whoohoo")
});
}
Now, in my class definition, I indicated that the <Label/> element is in the namespace "urn:Whoohoo", so I don't need to do anything further. When I now serialize the class using my above serialization code unchanged, this is the output:
<MyTypeWithNamespaces xmlns:w="urn:Whoohoo">
<w:Label>myLabel</w:Label>
<Epoch>42</Epoch>
</MyTypeWithNamespaces>
Because <Label> is in a different namespace from the rest of the document, it must, in someway, be "decorated" with a namespace. Notice that there are still no xsi and xsd namespaces.
XmlSerializer sr = new XmlSerializer(objectToSerialize.GetType());
TextWriter xmlWriter = new StreamWriter(filename);
XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
namespaces.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);
sr.Serialize(xmlWriter, objectToSerialize, namespaces);
This is the first of my two answers to the question.
If you want fine control over the namespaces - for example if you want to omit some of them but not others, or if you want to replace one namespace with another, you can do this using XmlAttributeOverrides.
Suppose you have this type definition:
// explicitly specify a namespace for this type,
// to be used during XML serialization.
[XmlRoot(Namespace="urn:Abracadabra")]
public class MyTypeWithNamespaces
{
// private fields backing the properties
private int _Epoch;
private string _Label;
// explicitly define a distinct namespace for this element
[XmlElement(Namespace="urn:Whoohoo")]
public string Label
{
set { _Label= value; }
get { return _Label; }
}
// this property will be implicitly serialized to XML using the
// member name for the element name, and inheriting the namespace from
// the type.
public int Epoch
{
set { _Epoch= value; }
get { return _Epoch; }
}
}
And this serialization pseudo-code:
var o2= new MyTypeWithNamespaces() { ..initializers...};
ns.Add( "", "urn:Abracadabra" );
XmlSerializer s2 = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces));
s2.Serialize(System.Console.Out, o2, ns);
You would get something like this XML:
<MyTypeWithNamespaces xmlns="urn:Abracadabra">
<Label xmlns="urn:Whoohoo">Cimsswybclaeqjh</Label>
<Epoch>97</Epoch>
</MyTypeWithNamespaces>
Notice that there is a default namespace on the root element, and there is also a distinct namespace on the "Label" element. These namespaces were dictated by the attributes decorating the type, in the code above.
The Xml Serialization framework in .NET includes the possibility to explicitly override the attributes that decorate the actual code. You do this with the XmlAttributesOverrides class and friends. Suppose I have the same type, and I serialize it this way:
// instantiate the container for all attribute overrides
XmlAttributeOverrides xOver = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
// define a set of XML attributes to apply to the root element
XmlAttributes xAttrs1 = new XmlAttributes();
// define an XmlRoot element (as if [XmlRoot] had decorated the type)
// The namespace in the attribute override is the empty string.
XmlRootAttribute xRoot = new XmlRootAttribute() { Namespace = ""};
// add that XmlRoot element to the container of attributes
xAttrs1.XmlRoot= xRoot;
// add that bunch of attributes to the container holding all overrides
xOver.Add(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces), xAttrs1);
// create another set of XML Attributes
XmlAttributes xAttrs2 = new XmlAttributes();
// define an XmlElement attribute, for a type of "String", with no namespace
var xElt = new XmlElementAttribute(typeof(String)) { Namespace = ""};
// add that XmlElement attribute to the 2nd bunch of attributes
xAttrs2.XmlElements.Add(xElt);
// add that bunch of attributes to the container for the type, and
// specifically apply that bunch to the "Label" property on the type.
xOver.Add(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces), "Label", xAttrs2);
// instantiate a serializer with the overrides
XmlSerializer s3 = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyTypeWithNamespaces), xOver);
// serialize
s3.Serialize(System.Console.Out, o2, ns2);
The result looks like this;
<MyTypeWithNamespaces>
<Label>Cimsswybclaeqjh</Label>
<Epoch>97</Epoch>
</MyTypeWithNamespaces>
You have stripped the namespaces.
A logical question is, can you strip all namespaces from arbitrary types during serialization, without going through the explicit overrides? The answer is YES, and how to do it is in my next response.
I'd like to do this the right way if possible. I have XML data as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<XnaContent>
<Asset Type="PG2.Dictionary">
<Letters TotalInstances="460100">
<Letter Count="34481">a</Letter>
...
<Letter Count="1361">z</Letter>
</Letters>
<Words Count="60516">
<Word>aardvark</Word>
...
<Word>zebra</Word>
</Words>
</Asset>
</XnaContent>
and I'd like to load this in (using Content.Load< Dictionary >) into one of these
namespace PG2
{
public class Dictionary
{
public class Letters
{
public int totalInstances;
public List<Character> characters;
public class Character
{
public int count;
public char character;
}
}
public class Words
{
public int count;
public HashSet<string> words;
}
Letters letters;
Words words;
}
}
Can anyone help with either instructions or pointers to tutorials? I've found a few which come close but things seem to have changed slightly between 3.1 and 4.0 in ways which I don't understand and a lot of the documentation assumes knowledge I don't have. My understanding so far is that I need to make the Dictionary class Serializable but I can't seem to make that happen. I've added the XML file to the content project but how do I get it to create the correct XNB file?
Thanks!
Charlie.
This may help Link. I found it useful to work the other way round to check that my xml data was correctly defined. Instantate your dictionary class set all the fields then serialize it to xml using a XmlSerializer to check the output.
You need to implement a ContentTypeSerializer for your Dictionary class. Put this in a content extension library and add a reference to the content extension library to your content project. Put your Dictionary class into a game library that is reference by both your game and the content extension project.
See:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2008/08/26/customizing-intermediateserializer-part-2.aspx
Here is a quick ContentTypeSerializer I wrote that will deserialize your Dictionary class. It could use better error handling.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline.Serialization.Intermediate;
namespace PG2
{
[ContentTypeSerializer]
class DictionaryXmlSerializer : ContentTypeSerializer<Dictionary>
{
private void ReadToNextElement(XmlReader reader)
{
reader.Read();
while (reader.NodeType != System.Xml.XmlNodeType.Element)
{
if (!reader.Read())
{
return;
}
}
}
private void ReadToEndElement(XmlReader reader)
{
reader.Read();
while (reader.NodeType != System.Xml.XmlNodeType.EndElement)
{
reader.Read();
}
}
private int ReadAttributeInt(XmlReader reader, string attributeName)
{
reader.MoveToAttribute(attributeName);
return int.Parse(reader.Value);
}
protected override Dictionary Deserialize(IntermediateReader input, Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.ContentSerializerAttribute format, Dictionary existingInstance)
{
Dictionary dictionary = new Dictionary();
dictionary.letters = new Dictionary.Letters();
dictionary.letters.characters = new List<Dictionary.Letters.Character>();
dictionary.words = new Dictionary.Words();
dictionary.words.words = new HashSet<string>();
ReadToNextElement(input.Xml);
dictionary.letters.totalInstances = ReadAttributeInt(input.Xml, "TotalInstances");
ReadToNextElement(input.Xml);
while (input.Xml.Name == "Letter")
{
Dictionary.Letters.Character character = new Dictionary.Letters.Character();
character.count = ReadAttributeInt(input.Xml, "Count");
input.Xml.Read();
character.character = input.Xml.Value[0];
dictionary.letters.characters.Add(character);
ReadToNextElement(input.Xml);
}
dictionary.words.count = ReadAttributeInt(input.Xml, "Count");
for (int i = 0; i < dictionary.words.count; i++)
{
ReadToNextElement(input.Xml);
input.Xml.Read();
dictionary.words.words.Add(input.Xml.Value);
ReadToEndElement(input.Xml);
}
ReadToEndElement(input.Xml); // read to the end of words
ReadToEndElement(input.Xml); // read to the end of asset
return dictionary;
}
protected override void Serialize(IntermediateWriter output, Dictionary value, Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.ContentSerializerAttribute format)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
}