Re: Xml serialization problem - C# Discussion Boards

Heath Stewart22-Dec-03 11:12

22-Dec-03 11:12

First of all, using the SerializableAttribute will not make the object XML-serializable if you're talking about the System.Xml.Serialization namespace classes (mostly, the attributes therein).

Second, what is the specific error that you're getting?

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.21
GCS/G/MU d- s: a- C++++ UL@ P++(+++) L+(--) E--- W+++ N++ o+ K? w++++ O- M(+) V? PS-- PE Y++ PGP++ t++@ 5 X+++ R+@ tv+ b(-)>b++ DI++++ D+ G e++>+++ h---* r+++ y+++
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

Re: Xml serialization problem

Wizard_0122-Dec-03 11:26

Wizard_01

22-Dec-03 11:26

It wrote : "There was an error generating the XML document. A circular reference was detected while serializing an object of type WindowsApplication1.F."

from MSDN :

The serialization architecture provided with the .NET Framework correctly handles object graphs and circular references automatically. The only requirement placed on object graphs is that all objects referenced by the object that is being serialized must also be marked as Serializable ...

Wiizi Smile | :)

Re: Xml serialization problem

Heath Stewart22-Dec-03 11:40

Heath Stewart

22-Dec-03 11:40

For serialization (such as the SOAP and binary formatters), yes, circular references are supported; but, for XML serialization they are not. SOAP and binary formatting for serialization (using the System.Runtime.Serialization namespace elements) uses IDREFs. XML serialization (using the System.Xml.Serialization namespace elements) uses simple nesting, so circular references are not supported. There is a vast difference between these two serialization technologies.

Re: Xml serialization problem

Wizard_0122-Dec-03 11:54

Wizard_01

22-Dec-03 11:54

Oppps. And is possible to simply extend XML serialization with circular references ?

Wiizi Smile | :)

Re: Xml serialization problem

Heath Stewart22-Dec-03 11:59

Heath Stewart

22-Dec-03 11:59

Changing XML serialization is not feasibily possible, but it is technically possible. Frankly, though, you should look for ways to avoid circular references. This can be disasterous for the CLR when cleaning up or disposing objects.

To extend it a little, you can implement IXmlSerializable, but there is little documentation about this because you're not supposed to implement it. I used ildasm.exe to find out the details since they aren't well documented and did it with success, but I don't know if that'll solve your problem. The most you can do is nest your elements so that in your serializated XML document they don't appear circular - your serialization routines should be programmed to construct the objects again.

Re: Xml serialization problem

J. Dunlap22-Dec-03 21:33

J. Dunlap

22-Dec-03 21:33

I came up on a bunch of problems (but not circular references in particular) when implementing serialization in Fluid. I ended up building my own internal serialization system that can quickly and simply serialize any object that can be serialized by the .NET XmlSerializer, is marked as binary-serializable, can be converted to a string using the TypeConverter, or implements my own interface that's similar to IXmlSerializable. It automatically stores and retrieves the datatypes of the objects, and allows for short typename aliases. It doesn't handle circular references, though, and I currently haven't been able to get it to work with GAC'ed types Frown | :(

(for info see this Fluid post[^]).

Currently it's sort of built into the Fluid architecture, but it wouldn't be hard at all to extract it. If any of you are interested, let me know. It isn't revolutionary, but it works. Smile | :)

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Re: Xml serialization problem

Heath Stewart23-Dec-03 2:40

Heath Stewart

23-Dec-03 2:40

I have to ask the question, "why?". Why not just use the BinaryFormatter and save yourself the trouble? I'm not doubting your skills as a developer (I've seen enough from you to know you're kung fu is good), but the serialization was developed by a team of Microsoft developers, tested internally and by the entire community that helps beta-test the framework versions, and is time-tested as well. There's something to be said for that. Besides, it already handles cirucular references (not that they happen much) and things you're might not. You can easily extend serialization by implementing ISerializable or using an ISerializationSurrogate to serialize types that aren't attributed with the SerializableAttribute, not to mention changing serialization between two types using a SerializationBinder.

Re: Xml serialization problem

J. Dunlap23-Dec-03 10:38

J. Dunlap

23-Dec-03 10:38

Heath Stewart wrote:
Why not just use the BinaryFormatter and save yourself the trouble?

Because we want to allow most of the types to be able to edited by hand in the XML file, but also allow embedded binary serialization of types that can't be serialized to XML directly.

Note that we are *not* re-implementing serialization from scratch - only unifying and extending what's already there. Our system basically orchestrates the identification of what serializer to use, and allows the serialization to be handled the same from the outside regardless of what means is used for serialization. So if it can be serialized through our interface, that is used, if it can be serialized using the XmlSerializer directly, the XmlSerializer is used, if it can be serialized using the TypeConverter, that is used, or if it is marked as serializable, binary serialization is used and it is encoded using Base64 encoding.

The first and foremost reason we re-implemented the IXmlSerializable interface ourselves is that it is unsupported and therefore may change without notice or backwards compatibility.

As I said, it's not anything really special, but it serves a need.

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Microsoft .NET parser C# error ?

identy22-Dec-03 9:20

identy

22-Dec-03 9:20

if (foo == null)
System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;

∙ ^ Error ^

if (foo == null) {
System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;
}

∙ ^ No Error ^

Becouse? Eek! | :eek:

Re: Microsoft .NET parser C# error ?

J. Dunlap22-Dec-03 9:31

J. Dunlap

22-Dec-03 9:31

You can't define a variable in an inline if statement. The correct way would be:

System.Data.Foo _Foo=null;
if(foo==null)
   _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;

//or better yet:
System.Data.Foo _Foo=(foo==null ? new System.Data.Foo : null);

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

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Re: Microsoft .NET parser C# error ?

Anonymous22-Dec-03 23:48

Anonymous

22-Dec-03 23:48

If you use:

if (foo == null)
{
    System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;
}

Now _Foo is only available within the { and }.
Now, if you could use the short version:

if (foo == null)
    System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;

...then where would _Foo be available? In the { and }, which you left out, or in the parent's context (e.g. between the methods { and })?
Because of this confusion, it is not possible.

Re: Microsoft .NET parser C# error ?

Member 26118822-Dec-03 23:48

Member 261188

22-Dec-03 23:48

If you use:

if (foo == null)
{
    System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;
}

Now _Foo is only available within the { and }.
Now, if you could use the short version:

if (foo == null)
    System.Data.Foo _Foo = new System.Data.Foo;

...then where would _Foo be available? In the { and }, which you left out, or in the parent's context (e.g. between the methods { and })?
Because of this confusion, it is not possible.

Re: Microsoft .NET parser C# error ?

identy6-Jan-04 9:53

identy

6-Jan-04 9:53

yes correct

but i see the c# schema ambiguous D'Oh! | :doh:

;)

String Alignment Question

RB@Emphasys22-Dec-03 8:18

RB@Emphasys

22-Dec-03 8:18

I cant seem to get my text to align in a list box, heres my code, i just cant remember what im doing wrong, im trying to left align the first string, then have both of the following strings in left aligned columns. But depending on the size of the first string, the second and third strings end up offset.

String.Format("{0, -20}", m_sTimerName) + String.Format("{0, 10}", m_iInitialTime.ToString()) + String.Format("{0, 10}", m_bRepeat.ToString());

Thanks,
Ryan

Re: String Alignment Question

leppie22-Dec-03 9:57

leppie

22-Dec-03 9:57

Ryan@SalamanderTechnologies wrote:
im trying to left align the first string, then have both of the following strings in left aligned columns. But depending on the size of the first string, the second and third strings end up offset.

2. Those last 2 should be -10.

1. if the timername is too long it will screw up.

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Re: String Alignment Question

Heath Stewart22-Dec-03 11:10

Heath Stewart

22-Dec-03 11:10

Whoa! Talk about string concatenation inefficiencies! String concatenation is one slow piece of code. For each concat, the CLR needs to measure the length of each string, then create a string large enough to hold the total length, then copy the characters from each string. This is a 2*O(n+m) operation. Instead, just use String.Format one:

string.Format("{0,-20}{1,-10}{2,-10}",
  m_sTimerName, miInitialTime, m_bRepeat);

Notice also that you don't need to call ToString on non-string variables. String.Format will do this automatically, or it will use "G" for the format if the object implements IFormattable, or it will call Format if the object implements ICusotmFormatter (see the String.Format documentation for details). Leaving the formatting details to String.Format makes it easier to take into account globalization (i.e., using the regional settings when necessary/available).

Re: String Alignment Question

RB@Emphasys29-Dec-03 3:07

RB@Emphasys

29-Dec-03 3:07

Thanks for the coding suggestion Heath. I did indeed implement it as you have shown, and the second and third columns do not line up. The larger or smaller for that matter the first column is, depends on where the second and third columns end up. I was hoping to have them all aligned, and the values I was testing the first column with did not exceed the length in the format. Any suggestions? I am also using a true type font.

Ryan

Re: String Alignment Question

Heath Stewart29-Dec-03 3:56

Heath Stewart

29-Dec-03 3:56

The font doesn't matter with String.Format - it's about the number of characters. The code fragment I gave you also uses your original code plus the suggestion before mine (using the negative operator, which was a correct solution) to yield better coding. As I stated - never concatenate strings so hap-hazardly! The code I gave merely was a solution to your concatenation snaffu.

The problem you're having is two-fold: String.Format - and the format specifiers that the previous guy mentions - align text up to the amount specified. Any more than that and the rest of the string is pushed over to make room for larger strings. If you don't mind this string being cut off, you'll have to trim it before using String.Format.

The second problem does have to do with the font and your word alignment (the first statement I made above about the font was in relation to character alignment). If you're not using a fixed-width font, you won't be able to get the text to line up because the sum of the widths of each character will most likely be different for each line. If you really need to line up your text, consider using a ListView.

If you're doing this for a console app, you'd be a fool to use a nothing but a fixed-width font for your console window (specifying a font in the app - at least for now - won't do anything). Most utilities rely on using a fixed-width font to format their output.

Static destructor?

CBoland22-Dec-03 6:07

CBoland

22-Dec-03 6:07

My class contains an unmanaged system object member (a user profile handle) that is initialized in the static constructor. Conversely, I need to free the object when the class (not object instances) is destroyed, but I've never heard of a static destructor.

Perhaps I could use Environment.HasShutdownStarted in the finalizer, but all instances could have already been gc'd when the AppDomain unloads and the code wouldn't run.

Perhaps I could use the AppDomain.Unload event to run my code.

Any thoughts?

Re: Static destructor?

leppie22-Dec-03 6:38

leppie

22-Dec-03 6:38

CBoland wrote:
but I've never heard of a static destructor.

They are allowable by the CLR, but I suggest using a Singleton pattern instead of static if it involves any resources. Smile | :)

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Re: Static destructor?

CBoland22-Dec-03 7:04

CBoland

22-Dec-03 7:04

Good call. Thanks for the reply.

String tokenizer in C#

dabs22-Dec-03 5:37

dabs

22-Dec-03 5:37

I need to split a string in C# into tokens, separated by whitespace characters. What would be the best way for me to do this? I just found out about the Split method in the string class, are there other options available?

Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

Re: String tokenizer in C#

leppie22-Dec-03 6:35

leppie

22-Dec-03 6:35

If you know RegEx you can try that, else I would stick to the split method, simply and easy Smile | :)

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Seen on my Campus BBS: Linux is free...coz no-one wants to pay for it.

Re: String tokenizer in C#

Larry Antram22-Dec-03 11:51

Larry Antram

22-Dec-03 11:51

Something like this worked for me:

foreach( string sToken in sOriginal.Split( " \t\r\n".ToCharArray() ) )
{
    // sToken has the token
}

C# API to generate PDF files from XSL:FO

MrEyes22-Dec-03 4:21

MrEyes

22-Dec-03 4:21

Is anybody aware of anything (API) out there that will generate a PDF file using an XSL:FO file that can be integrated into a C# application?

Here be more info :
I am currently working on an application that pulls data from a MSSQL database and put this into a PDF document. For various reasons I am tied to using a fully C# based open source solution. Although these rules can be "bent" if I find a fast non C#/Closed Source implementation.

I have come across a J# port (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nfop) of Apache FOP (http://xml.apache.org/fop) but unfortunatly I have been unable to locate a C# port (with the exception of http://sourceforge.net/projects/fop-dotnet which isnt even 30% completed). Both FOP and nFOP work fine, but they are too slow (FOP - 6 secs average, nFOP - 20 secs average)

In my search for a decent solution, I have played around with iTextSharp (http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp) which requires me to create the entire document in code and doesnt support templates. I have also found Report.NET (http://sourceforge.net/projects/report/) and iSEDquickpdf(http://www.sedtech.com/isedquickpdf/). Both of which suffer from the same problem as iTextSharp. Creating the entire document within code isnt feasible as any change to the document layout would require a recompile and re-release, whereas with XSLT/FO templates any changes can be done in a matter of seconds. There is one solution I have found at http://www.antennahouse.com/ the problem here is that it is far to costly ($5000+).

Having searched through the forums here, it seems that this question has only been asked once before, and it unfortunatly turned into a flame war, so no answers to be found there.

So back to the original question : Is anybody aware of anything (API) out there that will generate a PDF file using an XSL:FO file that can be integrated into a C# application?

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