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Sv: Re: Sv: Re: Generic List get converted into an Array when sent through Web Service?

badbanana — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 09:50:54 GMT

Cool

Re: Sv: Re: Generic List get converted into an Array when sent through Web Service?

JDHill — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 04:42:14 GMT

Here you go:

What we're doing is using a BinaryFormatter to put the CustomerList in a temp file through a FileStream. Then we're reading the bytes out of that file into a Byte Array and pushing them over the wire. On the other end, we read them into a file, and then read that file into a FileStream for the BinaryFormatter to Deserialize.

The transmission is done in base64binary, which, while being a text-representation, is not messed up by the xml UTF-8 encoding. I don't work with Streams too much, and I didn't have the time to figure out how to get rid of the intermediate files by using another type of Stream.

(I'm a VB.Net guy, so you'll have to translate for yourself)

service.asmx





Imports System.Web

Imports System.Web.Services

Imports System.Web.Services.Protocols

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary

 
<WebService(Namespace := "http://tempuri.org/")> _
<WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo:=WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)> _

Public Class Service
Inherits System.Web.Services.WebService
Public Sub Service
End Sub
Private cl As New CustomerList
<WebMethod()> _
Public Function GetCustomerList() As Byte()
Dim c As New Customer
c.CustomerName = "Customer1"
cl.Add(c)
Dim c2 As New Customer
c2.CustomerName = "Customer2"
cl.Add(c2)
Dim c3 As New Customer
c3.CustomerName = "Customer3"
cl.Add(c3)



Dim s As New FileStream(Server.MapPath("temp.str"), FileMode.Create)
Dim b As New BinaryFormatter
b.Serialize(s, cl)
s.Close()
Dim bstr As Byte() = (File.ReadAllBytes(Server.MapPath("temp.str")))
File.Delete(Server.MapPath("temp.str"))
Return bstr
End Function

End Class



<Serializable()> _

Public Class Customer
Private cn As String
Public Property CustomerName() As String
Get
Return cn
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
cn = value
End Set
End Property

End Class



<Serializable()> _

Public Class CustomerList
Inherits System.Collections.Generic.List(Of Customer)

End Class

How the transmission looks at this point is:




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 

  <base64Binary xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">AAEAAAD/////AQAA
AAAAAAAMAgAAAD9BcHBfQ29kZSwgVmVyc2lvbj0wLjAu
MC4wLCBDdWx0dXJlPW5ldXRyYWwsIFB1YmxpY0tleVRv
a2VuPW51bGwFAQAAAAxDdXN0b21lckxpc3QDAAAADUxpc
3RgMStfaXRlbXMMTGlzdGAxK19zaXplD0xpc3RgMStfdmVyc
2lvbgQAAApDdXN0b21lcltdAgAAAAgIAgAAAAkDAAAAAwA
AAAMAAAAHAwAAAAABAAAABAAAAAQIQ3VzdG9tZXICA
AAACQQAAAAJBQAAAAkGAAAACgUEAAAACEN1c3RvbW
VyAQAAAAJjbgECAAAABgcAAAAJQ3VzdG9tZXIxAQUAAA
AEAAAABggAAAAJQ3VzdG9tZXIyAQYAAAAEAAAABgkAAA
AJQ3VzdG9tZXIzCw==</base64Binary>

Form1.vb

this project needs a reference to the .dll that defines CustomerList - add a copy of the .dll to your project and a reference to the .dll

Imports System.IO

Imports CustomerList

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary

Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
File.WriteAllBytes("c:\temp.str", My.WebServices.Service.GetCustomerList)
Dim fs As New FileStream("c:\temp.str", FileMode.Open)
Dim bf As New BinaryFormatter
Dim cl As CustomerList = bf.Deserialize(fs)
fs.Close()
File.Delete("c:\temp.str")
For i As Integer = 0 To cl.Count - 1
Me.TextBox1.Text = Me.TextBox1.Text & cl(i).CustomerName & vbCrLf
Next
End Sub

End Class

So there you go - Generics over a Web Service without SOAP.

Have fun!

Sv: Re: Generic List get converted into an Array when sent through Web Service?

badbanana — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:43:53 GMT

Thanks. But ah man, that was some hefty info .
Would you be so kind showing me some code how to accomplish this?.

Re: Generic List get converted into an Array when sent through Web Service?

JDHill — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:35:08 GMT

SoapFormatter does not support Generics.

I've not done this, but since the app on the other end is .Net you should be able to serialize with the BinaryFormatter, read the FileStream into a String, pass the String over the wire, read it back into a Stream, and deserialize into your List<Customer> with no firewall troubles.

Hope this is helpful.

Generic List get converted into an Array when sent through Web Service?

badbanana — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:21:57 GMT

Hello, i have a customer object like this:

public class Customer
{
public Customer()
{

}

private string customername;
public string CustomerName
{
get { return customername; }
set { customername = value; }
}

}

And a generic Customer collection that can contain customer objects like this:

public class CustomerList : List<Customer>
{
public CustomerList()
{

}

}

I populate a CustomerList with some Customer objects and send the CustomerList through a web service:

[WebMethod]
public CustomerList GetCustomerList()
{

CustomerList myCustomerList = new CustomerList();
Customer myCustomer = new Customer();
myCustomer.CustomerName = "Hello this is a test";
myCustomerList.Add(myCustomer);

return myCustomerList;
}

But on the client end, the windows application that is going to consume the web service, this generic CustomerList has turned into an
Array of Customers?? Customer[] Customers=new Customers[]... Why is that, what am i doing wrong?, i want to the CustomerList to "stay" a CustomerList even though im sending it through a web service, but it gets converted into an array , Im using the August CTP..

And if i invoke this WebMethod the XML look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

- <ArrayOfCustomer xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">

- <Customer>

<CustomerName>Hello this is a test</CustomerName>

</Customer>

</ArrayOfCustomer>

As you can see, the CustomerList has turned into an Array of Customers?..

.