Deserialization of complex types with nested shared types

Question

This question is about re-factoring an XMl model that works for XML I receive but can't alter - although the names have changed.

I have the following classes:

[XmlType(AnonymousType = true)]
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "loadsOfMainType", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
class MainType
{
    [XmlElement("mainType")]
    public MyNameForMainType[] MainTypes { get; set; }
}

[XmlRoot(ElementName = "aMainType", Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
[XmlType(AnonymousType = true)]
public class MyNameForMainType
{
    [XmlElement("single")]
    public Single Single { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("dual")]
    public Dual Dual { get; set; }
}

[XmlType(AnonymousType = true)]
public class Single
{
    [XmlElement("thing1")]
    public Thing1 MyNameForThing1 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("thing2")]
    public Thing2 MyNameForThing2 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("thing3")]
    public Thing3 MyNameForThing3 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("somthingElseInSingle")]
    public StuffInSingleOnly StuffInSingle { get; set; }
}

[XmlType(AnonymousType = true)]
public class Dual
{
    [XmlElement("thing1")]
    public Thing1 MyNameForThing1 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("thing2")]
    public Thing2 MyNameForThing2 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("thing3")]
    public Thing3 MyNameForThing3 { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("someStuffInDual")]
    public StuffInDualOnly StuffInDual { get; set; }
}

As you can see, Thing1, Thing2, Thing3 are all candidates for moving to another class. There are other classes that will benefit from the same re-factor.

I want to create a class for those "Thing"s and have the XMLSerializer take my MainType with the new type under Single or Dual - let's call it CommonThing such that, for instance, Single would become:

[XmlType(AnonymousType = true)]
public class Single
{
    public CommonThing CommonThing { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("somthingElseInSingle")]
    public StuffInSingleOnly StuffInSingle { get; set; }
}

I've tried all sorts of XML serialization decorations on CommonThing, both in Single, and in CommonThing, and for the life of me the best I can get is CommonThing coming back as null.

Is there some combination of attributes I can add in either or both of Single and CommonThing that will work (or even MainType)?

Please note that I am only passing MainType as my T into a ReadAsAsync because I have other T's that don't want to use CommonThing (although I guess I could pass another type as I wrote that bit and I reckon it would get ignored for T's without CommonThing - but I don't think I really should need to).

Have you tried inheritance (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1643139/using-xmlserializer-to-serialize-derived-classes)? — csharpfolk, May 26 '16 at 13:38
make Single and Dual inherit from common base class e.g. CommonThings that will have common properties (thing1-3), then use provided link to add XML mapping attributes. I guess your aim is to remove duplicating for thing1-thing3, am I correct? — csharpfolk, May 26 '16 at 13:47
Don't know why I didn't think of that - stuck in one mindset I guess. Will give it a go now and report back later. Ta — john hunter, May 26 '16 at 22:02
That did it - plus a little more understanding of the difference between XmlElement and XmlAttribute - thanks — john hunter, May 27 '16 at 10:03

Deserialization of complex types with nested shared types

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