Serializing a CodeDom as XML

Question

Is there a way to serialize a CodeCompileUnit object as XML.

The problem is that:

XmlSerializer xml = new XmlSerializer( typeof(CodeCompileUnit) );

throws the following exception:

"Cannot serialize member System.CodeDom.CodeObject.UserData of type System.Collections.IDictionary, because it implements IDictionary."

Answer 1

This is a limitation of the XML serializer : dictionaries can't be serialized (even though I don't see any good reason why). Actually they can be serialized if they implement IXmlSerializable (which, by the way, is a real pain to implement), but that's not the case for the UserData property... so you're stuck

Answer 2

XmlSerializer has issues with IDictionary. It is now deprecated in favor of DataContractSerializer which can serialize a CodeCompileUnit instance:

var serializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(CodeCompileUnit));
serializer.WriteObject(Console.OpenStandardOutput(), new CodeCompileUnit());

Answer 3

this may be a long shot but how about serializing the code that it generates and then rehidrating the codedom from the generated code.

this project allows you to go from code to codedom and back.

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/codedom_assistant.aspx