Private properties/classes and attributes from System.Attribute/ComponentModel

Hello 😃

I am trying to serialize/deserialize for example System.Windows.Forms.Button as below:

Button btn = new Button();
var contents =
	new ConfigurationContainer()
		.Create()
	.Serialize(new XmlWriterSettings { Indent = true }, btn);

This causes an System.InvalidOperationException with:

The serializer for type 'System.Drawing.Font' could not be found.
Please ensure that the type is a valid type can be activated.
The default behavior requires an empty public constructor on the (non-abstract) class to activate.

OK. Some classes have no parameterless constuctor. Let’s build an empty serializers to prevent Cursor/Font to throw an exception:

public class CursorSerializer : IExtendedXmlCustomSerializer<Cursor>
{
	public Cursor Deserialize(XElement xElement) => null;
	public void Serializer(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Cursor obj) { }
}
public class FontSerializer : IExtendedXmlCustomSerializer<Font>
{
	public Font Deserialize(XElement xElement) => null;
	public void Serializer(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Font obj) { }
}

and extend the call:

Button btn = new Button();
var contents =
	new ConfigurationContainer()
		.Type<Cursor>().CustomSerializer(new CursorSerializer())
		.Type<Font>().CustomSerializer(new FontSerializer())
		.Create()
	.Serialize(new XmlWriterSettings { Indent = true }, btn);

This causes an System.InvalidOperationException with:

The serializer for type 'System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow' could not be found.
Please ensure that the type is a valid type can be activated.
The default behavior requires an empty public constructor on the (non-abstract) class to activate.

The struct/class System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow is not visible and I don’t know how to prevent the exception. Let’s extend the Button class with property with attribute:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, Inherited = false, AllowMultiple = true)]
public sealed class ButtonExPropertyAttribute : Attribute { }

public class ButtonEx : Button
{
	[ButtonExPropertyAttribute]
	public int MyProperty { get; set; }
}

My questions are:

1. How to serialize only settable and public properties?
2. How to manipulate with property attributes (ignoring/selecting only)?

[gimi87]

Thank you. Very, very much. The problem has been solved. You are the god 😃!

[gimi87]

Thank you for your patience. Yes… it can be a workaround, but not a good solution, because I have to remember to Ignore modified properties. Look… I prepared a sketch where you can look at the next System.ArgumentException 😃 Classes/interfaces:

//Interface implementations
public interface IProperty { int MyProperty { get; set; } int RefID { get; set; } }
public class PropertyBase : IProperty { public virtual int MyProperty { get; set; } = 1; public int RefID { get; set; } }
public class PropertyInherit : PropertyBase { public override int MyProperty { get; set; } = 2; }

//Class-handles to interface
public class IPropertyHandleBase
{
	public IProperty HandleToIProperty { get; set; }
}
public class PropertyBaseHandle : IPropertyHandleBase
{
	public new PropertyBase HandleToIProperty { get => base.HandleToIProperty as PropertyBase; set => base.HandleToIProperty = value; }
}
public class PropertyInheritHandle : PropertyBaseHandle
{
	public new PropertyInherit HandleToIProperty { get => base.HandleToIProperty as PropertyInherit; set => base.HandleToIProperty = value; }
}

//Object to serialize/deserialize
public class TestIProperty
{
	public List<IProperty> MyProperties { get; set; } = new List<IProperty>();
	public List<IPropertyHandleBase> MyHandles { get; set; } = new List<IPropertyHandleBase>();
}

and the call:

PropertyBase prop1 = new PropertyBase { RefID = 1 };
PropertyInherit prop2 = new PropertyInherit { RefID = 2 };
PropertyBaseHandle hand1 = new PropertyBaseHandle { HandleToIProperty = prop1 };
PropertyInheritHandle hand2 = new PropertyInheritHandle { HandleToIProperty = prop2 };

TestIProperty obj = new TestIProperty();
obj.MyProperties.Add(prop1);
obj.MyProperties.Add(prop2);
obj.MyHandles.Add(hand1);
obj.MyHandles.Add(hand2);

var contents =
	new ConfigurationContainer().Extend(FallbackSerializationExtension.Default)
		.Type<IProperty>().EnableReferences(p => p.RefID)
		.Create()
	.Serialize(new XmlWriterSettings { Indent = true }, obj);