Protobuf-net and and generics

Question

I have a problem with protobuf-net and the use of generics.

Given:

    [DataContract]
public class CacheData
{
    [DataMember(Order = 1)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> Foo;

    [DataMember(Order = 2)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> Bar;

    [DataMember(Order = 3)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> XXX;

    [DataMember(Order = 4)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<string>> YYY;

    [DataMember(Order = 5)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> Other;

    [DataMember(Order = 6)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> Other2;

    [DataMember(Order = 7)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<int>> Other3;

    [DataMember(Order = 8)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<string>> EvenMore;

    [DataMember(Order = 9)]
    public List<CacheLoadItem<string>> AlmostThere;
}

[DataContract]
public class CacheLoadItem<V>
{
    [DataMember(Order = 1)]
    public int ID;

    [DataMember(Order = 2)]
    public string Name;

    [DataMember(Order = 3)]
    public V Value;
}

The CacheLoadItem with a generic int lists get serialised just fine, but the CacheLoadItem with a generic string lists dont.

I think it has to do with what generic list gets serialized first.

The CacheLoadItem with a generic string lists contains the correct number of items, but with default/null values.

Anyone know why this happens?

Answer 1

Ok, it is definitely Entity Framework related.

the CacheData is pululated with LINQtoEF.

Like:

                        using (var myDatabase = new MyDatabase(entityBuilder.ToString()))
        {
            result.A = (from a in myDatabase.ATable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = a.ID, Name = a.Name, Value = a.Number }).ToList();
            result.B = (from b in myDatabase.BTable select new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = b.ID, Name = b.Name, Value = b.Code }).ToList();
            result.C = (from c in myDatabase.CTable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = c.ID, Name = c.Name, Value = c.ID }).ToList();
            result.D = (from d in myDatabase.DTable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = d.ID, Name = d.Name, Value = d.Number }).ToList();
            result.E = (from e in myDatabaseETable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = e.ID, Name = e.Name, Value = e.Number }).ToList();
            result.F = (from f in myDatabase.FTable select new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = f.ID, Name = f.Name, Value = f.Number }).ToList();
            result.G = (from g in myDatabaseGTable select new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = g.ID, Name = g.Name, Value = g.Code }).ToList();
            result.H = (from h in myDatabaseHTable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = h.ID, Name = h.Name, Value = h.Number }).ToList();
            result.I = (from i in myDatabaseITable select new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = i.ID, Name = i.Name, Value = i.Number }).ToList();
        }

Does not work, but the following works.

            using (var myDatabase = new MyDatabase(entityBuilder.ToString()))
        {
            result.A = (from a in myDatabase.ATable select a).ToList().Select(b => new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = a.ID, Name = a.Name, Value = a.Number }).ToList();
            result.B = (from b in myDatabase.BTable select b).ToList().Select(b=>new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = b.ID, Name = b.Name, Value = b.Code }).ToList();
            result.C = (from c in myDatabase.CTable select c).ToList().Select(c=> new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = c.ID, Name = c.Name, Value = c.ID }).ToList();
            result.D = (from d in myDatabase.DTable select d).ToList().Select(d=> new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = d.ID, Name = d.Name, Value = d.Number }).ToList();
            result.E = (from e in myDatabaseETable select e).ToList().Select(e=> new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = e.ID, Name = e.Name, Value = e.Number }).ToList();
            result.F = (from f in myDatabase.FTable select f).ToList().Select(f => new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = f.ID, Name = f.Name, Value = f.Number }).ToList();
            result.G = (from g in myDatabaseGTable select g).ToList().Select(g=> new CacheLoadItem<string> { ID = g.ID, Name = g.Name, Value = g.Code }).ToList();
            result.H = (from h in myDatabaseHTable select h).ToList().Select(h=> new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = h.ID, Name = h.Name, Value = h.Number }).ToList();
            result.I = (from i in myDatabaseITable select i).ToList().Select(i=> new CacheLoadItem<int> { ID = i.ID, Name = i.Name, Value = i.Number }).ToList();
        }

The difference is that I dont do the transformation in LinqToEF but in LINQtoObjects.

So I guess that EF is broken?