Pfthb

The structure here is a bit convoluted so please bear with me. I hope that there's a way to do what a want to do, but if it's not possible then feel free to tell me!

Unfortunately I've not been involved in the design process of the XML file spec from the beginning, the goalposts have been moved a dozen times and the spec can't be amended for the sake of making it easier for me to do as any spec amendments are extortionately priced (yes, even renaming XML elements!)

Anyway I digress.

There are two different types of purchase order that have a slightly different file structure and slightly different processing logic and I am trying to handle them both with the same code instead of having two different projects for what is nearly identical.

Both types of purchase order derive from a set of abstract classes that determine basic business logic that both PO types share (quantity, cost, PO number, etc.).

Base classes

abstract class PO 
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract POType PurchaseOrderType get;
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract PO_Head Header get;set;
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract List<PO_Line> LineItems get;set;


abstract class PO_Head 
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract string PONumber get;set;


abstract class PO_Line 
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract string ItemCode get;set;
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract decimal UnitCost get;set;
 [XmlIgnore]
 abstract int OrderQty get;set;

Derived classes

class POR : PO 
 // POR implementations


class POR_Head : PO_Line 
 // POR implementations


class POR_Line : PO_Line 
 // POR implementations


class CPO : PO 
 // CPO implementations


class CPO_Head : PO_Line 
 // CPO implementations


class CPO_Line : PO_Line 
 // CPO implementations

The base abstract class is then used in the code to process each purchase order and import them into our accounting system.

for (int i = pending.Transactions.Count -1; i > -1; i--) 
 PO pendingOrder = (PO)pending.Transactions[i];
 // Import PO type

The problem is that when I attempt to deserialize into each derived class as appropriate, it attempts to deserialize the Header and LineItems into the derived types PO_Head and PO_Line. Is there any way I can explicitly tell the XmlSerializer to treat Header and LineItems as the derived class versions - CPO_Head and CPO_Line or POR_Head and POR_Line - depending on the class that is being serialized - CPO or POR respectively. Something akin to the below.

class CPO : PO 
 [XmlIgnore]
 override POType PurchaseOrderType => POType.CPO;

 [XmlElement("CPO_Head")]
 [XmlDeserializerType(typeof(CPO_Head))]
 override PO_Head Header get;set;

 [XmlArray("CPO_Lines")]
 [XmlArrayItem("CPO_Line")]
 [XmlDeserializerType(typeof(CPO_Line))]
 override List<PO_Line> LineItems get;set;

Kind of dug myself a hole with this one (first time using deserialization) so I'm hoping there's an easy way out that would save me having to rewrite a ton of the work I've done!

TIA

EDIT - code used to deserialize/serialize as requested

public static void SerializeToXmlFile(object obj, FileInfo dstFile)

 XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
 using (FileStream fs = dstFile.Open(FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
 
 xmlSerializer.Serialize(fs, obj);
 



public static object DeserializeFromXmlFile(FileInfo srcFile, Type type)

 XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(type);
 using (FileStream fs = srcFile.Open(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
 
 return xmlSerializer.Deserialize(fs);
 


public static void Main(string args) 

 // Deserialize from XML file
 FileInfo srcFile = new FileInfo("pathtofile");
 Type t;
 if (srcFile.Name.Substring(0,3) == "CPO")
 t = typeof(CPO);
 else if (srcFile.Name.Substring(0,3) == "POR")
 t = typeof(POR);

 PO po = DeserializeFromXmlFile(file, t);

 // Process the file
 // ...

 // Serialize back to file
 FileInfo dstFile = new FileInfo("newpathtofile");
 SerializeToXmlFile(po, dstFile);

EDIT - fixed

As per the marked correct answer I was able to resolve this by specifying the Type in the XmlElement and XmlArrayItem attributes.

class POR 
 [XmlElement(typeof(POR_Head), ElementName="PO_Head")]
 override PO_Head Header get;set; = new POR_Head();
 [XmlArray("PO_Lines")]
 [XmlArrayItem(typeof(POR_Line), ElementName="PO_Line")]
 override List<PO_Line> LineItems get;set; = new List<LineItems>();


class CPO 
 [XmlElement(typeof(CPO_Head), ElementName="PO_Head")]
 override PO_Head Header get;set; = new CPO_Head();
 [XmlArray("PO_Lines")]
 [XmlArrayItem(typeof(CPO_Line), ElementName="PO_Line")]
 override List<PO_Line> LineItems get;set; = new List<LineItems>();

I think you are looking for the XmlArrayItemAttribute. According to the docs:

You can apply the XmlArrayItemAttribute to any public read/write member that returns an array, or provides access to one. For example, a field that returns an array of objects, a collection, an ArrayList, or any class that implements the IEnumerable interface.

The XmlArrayItemAttribute supports polymorphism--in other words, it allows the XmlSerializer to add derived objects to an array.

If I understand the example correctly, the attribute should be written with a list of the possible derived types that are allowed in the serialized enumerable, e.g.

[XmlArrayItem (typeof(PO_Line), ElementName = "PO_Line"),
 XmlArrayItem (typeof(CPO_Line),ElementName = "CPO_Line")]

Since you are only passing a string, the attribute interprets that as the ElementName, not the type. The type must be passed using typeof(ClassName).