how to generate custom collection type in .Net from WSDL?

Question

I am running a custom application that imports WSDLs and generates C# source code, using WSDLImporter class to read in contracts.

XSD sequence types are translated into native arrays. What options can I set in order to be able to generate custom collection types?

Schema:

<xs:complexType name="getAllSourcesResponse">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0" 
            name="return" type="tns:Source"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

becomes code:

public partial class getAllSourcesResponse
{
    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("return",
        Form=System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchemaForm.Unqualified)]
    public PaymentSource[] @return;

    public getAllSourcesResponse()
    {
    }

    public getAllSourcesResponse(Source[] @return)
    {
        this.@return = @return;
    }
}

I looked into SvcUtil.exe code, it appears to do the following, but it does not seem to make any difference in what code my application produces.

WsdlImporter importer = ... 

XsdDataContractImporter contractImporter = 
    new XsdDataContractImporter(codeCompileUnit); 

ImportOptions importOptions = new ImportOptions();
importOptions.ReferencedCollectionTypes.Add(
    typeof(System.Collections.Generic.IList<>)); 

contractImporter.Options = importOptions; 

importer.State.Add(typeof(XsdDataContractImporter), contractImporter);

Answer 1

Is WCF an option?

Answer 2

First, I believe you need to indicate a collection implementation, not just the interface, so that means List<T> instead of IList<T> (although you can certainly try it with the interface).

Second, you need to specify the type parameter T:

ImportOptions importOptions = new ImportOptions();

importOptions.ReferencedCollectionTypes.Add(
    typeof(System.Collections.Generic.List<getAllSourcesResponse>));

As it was, you were passing the open generic type, which will not match with anything when the importer is trying to resolve the collection.

Answer 3

@CasperOne, this schema snippet

<xs:complexType name="getClassesForPackageResponse">
     <xs:sequence>
         <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0" name="return" type="xs:string"/>
     </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>

generates a string[] type:

public partial class getClassesForPackageResponse
{
    public string[] @return;
    public getClassesForPackageResponse() {}

    public getClassesForPackageResponse(string[] @return)
    {    this.@return = @return;    }
}

This does not cause string collection to use List:

ImportOptions importOptions = new ImportOptions();
importOptions.ReferencedCollectionTypes.Add(
    typeof(System.Collections.Generic.List<string>));