Specifying what gets serialized

Owned by Geert van Horrik
Last updated: Oct 22, 2015
3 min read

By default, Catel only serializes the defined Catel properties on the ModelBase or any deriving classes. It is possible to customize this behavior. Below is a class which will be used in all examples:

public class MyModel : ModelBase
{
    private string _fieldValue;
	
	public string RegularProperty { get; set; }
		
	public string CatelProperty
	{
		get { return GetValue<string>(CatelPropertyProperty); }
		set { SetValue(CatelPropertyProperty, value); }
	}

	public static readonly PropertyData CatelPropertyProperty = RegisterProperty("CatelProperty", typeof(string), null);
}
Member nameGets serialized
_fieldValue
RegularProperty
CatelProperty

Including fields and properties using IncludeInSerialization attribute

To include fields or regular properties on an object, use the following code:

public class MyModel : ModelBase
{
    [IncludeInSerialization]
    private string _fieldValue;
	
    [IncludeInSerialization]
	public string RegularProperty { get; set; }
		
	public string CatelProperty
	{
		get { return GetValue<string>(CatelPropertyProperty); }
		set { SetValue(CatelPropertyProperty, value); }
	}

	public static readonly PropertyData CatelPropertyProperty = RegisterProperty("CatelProperty", typeof(string), null);
}
Member nameGets serialized
_fieldValue
RegularProperty
CatelProperty

Note that private members can only be serialized in .NET and not in Silverlight, Windows Phone or the Windows Runtime

Excluding fields and properties using ExcludeFromSerialization attribute

To exclude Catel properties on an object, use the following code:

public class MyModel : ModelBase
{
    private string _fieldValue;
	
	public string RegularProperty { get; set; }
 
    [ExcludeFromSerialization]
	public string CatelProperty
	{
		get { return GetValue<string>(CatelPropertyProperty); }
		set { SetValue(CatelPropertyProperty, value); }
	}

	public static readonly PropertyData CatelPropertyProperty = RegisterProperty("CatelProperty", typeof(string), null);
}
Member nameGets serialized
_fieldValue
RegularProperty
CatelProperty

Serializing a ModelBase as collection

There is a very edge case that a class derives from ModelBase, but also implements IList<T>. In this case, it's hard for the serializers to determine what to do. By default, it will treat the model as a Catel model (since it can contain more properties than just the Items property. If such a class should be serialized as collection (meaning it will only serialize the Items property), decorate it with the SerializeAsCollection attribute:

 

[SerializeAsCollection]
public class MyModel : ModelBase, IList<int>
{
    // implementation left out for readability
}

Implementing a custom ISerializationManager

Internally Catel uses a default implementation of the ISerializationManager to determine what members of a type should be serialized. It is possible to customize this behavior by overriding a single method or by creating a brand new type. Below is an example which always excludes Password properties and fields from serialization.

public class SafeSerializationManager : SerializationManager
{
    public override HashSet<string> GetFieldsToSerialize(Type type)
	{
	    var fieldsList = new List<string>(base.GetFieldsToSerialize(type));
		
		for (int i = 0; i < fieldsList.Count; i++)
		{
		    if (string.Equals(fieldsList[i], "_password"))
			{
			    fieldsList.RemoveAt(i--);
			}
		}
		
		return new HashSet<string>(fieldsList);
	}
	
    public override HashSet<string> GetPropertiesToSerialize(Type type)
	{
	    var propertiesList = new List<string>(base.GetPropertiesToSerialize(type));
		
		for (int i = 0; i < propertiesList.Count; i++)
		{
		    if (string.Equals(propertiesList[i], "Password"))
			{
			    propertiesList.RemoveAt(i--);
			}
		}
		
		return new HashSet<string>(propertiesList);
	}	
}

Don't forget to register it in the ServiceLocator as well:

var serviceLocator = ServiceLocator.Default;
serviceLocator.RegisterType<ISerializationManager, SafeSerializationManager>();