XmlInclude

[sambo]

I have 2 classes that are shared between my webservice and my client app (both in c#)...

public class ImageFile
{
    private string m_sFileName;
    private csAWCDefines.UploadType m_uploadType;

    public ImageFile()
    {

    }

    public ImageFile(string sFileName, csAWCDefines.UploadType uploadType)
    {
        m_sFileName = sFileName;
        m_uploadType = uploadType;
    }

    public string FileName
    {
        get { return m_sFileName; }
    }

    public csAWCDefines.UploadType UploadType
    {
        get { return m_uploadType; }
    }
}

AND

public class ArrayContainer
{
    public System.Collections.ArrayList m_aryFiles;

    public ArrayContainer()
    {
        m_aryFiles = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
    }
}

I fill the ArrayContainer::m_aryFiles like this in a [WebMethod]...

[WebMethod]
public bool FillArry(ref ArrayContainer aryContainer)
{
	string sImage1 = @"test1.img";
	string sImage2 = @"test2.img";
	aryContainer.m_aryFiles.Add(new ImageFile(sImage1, csAWCDefines.UploadType.uploadClean));
	aryContainer.m_aryFiles.Add(new ImageFile(sImage2, csAWCDefines.UploadType.uploadClean));
	return true;
}

I am passing an instance of the ArrayContainer class by ref from my client to my webservice.

Instead of returning as planned, I get the following error...

Additional information: System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: There was an error generating the XML document. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: The type ImageFile was not expected. Use the XmlInclude or SoapInclude attribute to specify types that are not known statically.

I think XmlInclude might be the answer to my problem, but I'm not sure how to implement it in this case. Anyone have any suggestions? Do I implement XmlInclude as part of the ImageFile class? The ArrayContainer class? Neither? Where/how do I implement it correctly?

[sambo]

I ended up removing the reference to the ArrayList type and replacing it with a direct reference to an ImageList[] class array. Like this...

public bool FillArry(ImageList[]  aryContainer)

Instead of

public bool FillArry(ref ArrayContainer aryContainer)

I also had to add 1 simple line on top of my webservice fxn signature...

[XmlInclude(typeof(ImageFile))] //this makes xml recognize ImageFile type
public bool FillArry(ImageList[]  aryContainer)

The solution is well documented here in "Listing 4. Facade to expose the simple array Product[]

Hope this helps the next guy.