serializing an RSAKeyValue property in Serializable class

Question

I have a class in my C# project marked with the [Serializable] attribute. It has a property of type RSAKeyValue:

[XmlElement(PUBLIC_KEY_TAG_NAME)]
public RSAKeyValue Key { get; private set; }

When I try to serialize an instance of my class to XML and then deserialize that XML back to an instance of my class, I get:

System.InvalidOperationException: System.Security.Cryptography.KeySizes cannot be serialized because it does not have a parameterless constructor.

This occurs when I call XmlSerializer.Serialize. I'm sure it's because of the RSAKeyValue property in my class since all the other properties that get serialized are simple strings. What can I do about this? Should I maybe make my own wrapper class around an RSAKeyValue instance that properly serializes/deserializes?

Here is some sample XML that could be deserialized into an RSAKeyValue instance:

<RSAKeyValue>
  <Modulus>long string here...</Modulus>
  <Exponent>short string here</Exponent>
</RSAKeyValue>

Answer 1

First of all, the XML Serializer ignores the [Serializable] attribute.

Second, if the class does not have a default constructor, then you can't serialize it using the XML Serializer, period.

What are you trying to accomplish? Perhaps you can accomplish the same thing using the Data Contract Serializer?

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Create a class that contains just a Modulus and an Exponent. Fill that class from an RSAKeyValue. Serialize your custom class. After deserializing, use it to create a new RSAKeyValue.