How do I serialize element references as IDREFs?

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Hi,

Is it possible in .NET XML serialization to store element references in
attributes, maybe using IDs and IDREF? For element references, I always get a
copy of the element instead of a reference in the XML code.

That's what I want:

<FlightData xmlns:xsi="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="htt
p://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://demo.ns/flightdata">
<airport code="FRA" cityName="Frank furt" />
<airport code="SFO" cityName="San Francisco" />
<flight flightNumber="U A2344" from="#FRA" to="#SFO" />
</FlightData>

That's what I get instead:

<FlightData xmlns:xsi="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="htt
p://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://demo.ns/flightdata">
<airport code="FRA" cityName="Frank furt" />
<airport code="SFO" cityName="San Francisco" />
<flight flightNumber="U A2344">
<from code="FRA" cityName="Frank furt" />
<to code="SFO" cityName="San Francisco" />
</flight>
</FlightData>

Is there any combination of serialization attributes that can accomplish this,
or do I have to use a custom XML serializer? BTW, I'm using Visual Studio
2008.

Regards,
Niklas

[Martin Honnen]

Re: How do I serialize element references as IDREFs?

Niklas Deutschmann wrote:

Is there any combination of serialization attributes that can accomplish this,
or do I have to use a custom XML serializer? BTW, I'm using Visual Studio
2008.

SOAP serialization does allow references I think. It will however not
have the format you describe.

The new DataContractSer ializer in .NET 3.5 also allows references to
objects. Here is an example from MSDN:
------------------------- quote -------------------------------------
For these reasons, some DataContractSer ializer constructor overloads
have a preserveObjectR eferences parameter (the default is false). When
this parameter is set to true, a special method of encoding object
references, which only WCF understands, is used. When set to true, the
XML code example now resembles the following.


<PurchaseOrde r ser:id="1">
<billTo ser:id="2"><str eet ser:id="3">123 Main St.</street></billTo>
<shipTo ser:ref="2"/>
</PurchaseOrder>

----------------------- quote ----------------------------------------

The documentation is here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms731073.aspx

--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML

http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[=?Utf-8?B?TmlrbGFzIERldXRzY2htYW5u?=]

Re: How do I serialize element references as IDREFs?

Hi Martin,

The new DataContractSer ializer in .NET 3.5 also allows references to
objects. Here is an example from MSDN

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, with this kind of serialization, I
cannot choose the attributes for ID and reference myself? I would like to say
that "code" is the identifying attribute of "Airport", for instance, and that
any reference to an "Aiport" should be encoded as an ID reference with the
"code" attribute of this "Aiport".

Regards,
Niklas