WCF JSON serialization on object with IXmlSerializable - json

Question

I have structure IntEx - in short it extends normal Int32 and processed operation. It looks like this:
[Serializable]
public struct IntEx
{
private int internalValue;
private IntEx(int value)
{
internalValue = value;
}
public static implicit operator int(IntEx value)
{
return value.internalValue;
}
public static implicit operator IntEx(int value)
{
return new IntEx(value);
}
}
If we send this structure through WCF it serialize using JSON and output will "nicely look". Like we will use sample code below:
DataContractJsonSerializer jsonSerializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(TestClass));
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
jsonSerializer.WriteObject(stream, testClass);
string serializedString = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(stream.GetBuffer());
Console.WriteLine("JSON: {0}", serializedString);
}
public class TestClass
{
public int I1 { get; set; }
public IntEx I2 { get; set; }
}
Output look like this
JSON: {"I1":11,"I2":{"internalValue":22}}
Client and other "third-part" progam use this format (with internalValue).
Using IntEx is widely use in my application. One of the object is serialized to XML (some kind of setting). This object use IntEx as type.
So I have to implement IXmlSerializable to structure IntEx, because without this property is serialized like empty node
XML: <TestClass><I1>11</I1><I2 /></TestClass>
If I change IntEx to use IXmlSerializable
[Serializable]
public struct IntEx : IXmlSerializable
{
private int internalValue;
private IntEx(int value)
{
internalValue = value;
}
public static implicit operator int(IntEx value)
{
return value.internalValue;
}
public static implicit operator IntEx(int value)
{
return new IntEx(value);
}
System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema IXmlSerializable.GetSchema()
{
return null;
}
void IXmlSerializable.ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
void IXmlSerializable.WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer)
{
writer.WriteValue(internalValue);
}
}
XML output look ok
XML: <TestClass><I1>11</I1><I2>22</I2></TestClass>
but all my service break down, since now JSON look like this:
JSON: {"I1":11,"I2":"<IntEx xmlns=\"http:\/\/schemas.datacontract.org\/2004\/07\/TestJSONSerialization\">22<\/IntEx>"}
I read that if you use IXmlSerializable, JSON serialization "think" that I'm responsible for serialize so leave this object to me... But how can I change back to "original" serialization.
So now I'm in deadend... I need JSON output look like before, but I also need to some how force to write setting to XML with two conditions:
internalValue should remain private - it shouldn't be accessible using some public Property
I don't want rewrite bunch of code to chaneg (use boxing for JSON's properties) or change all possible property or class that can be saved to XML file.
So can anyone give me some clue, how I can resolve this issue? :/

Answer 1

you can use DataContractJsonSerializer with IDataContractSurrogate. using the IDataContractSurrogate to convert "IntEx" to "IntExJson", and the "IntExJson" don't need to inherit from IXmlSerializable.
IDataContractSurrogate can be used to remove some features from object, and convert to the similar object. and then use:
public DataContractJsonSerializer(Type type, IEnumerable<Type> knownTypes, int maxItemsInObjectGraph, bool ignoreExtensionDataObject, IDataContractSurrogate dataContractSurrogate, bool alwaysEmitTypeInformation);
to serialize the object to json. the deserialization is same.