C# How can I return my base class in a webservice
- by HenriM
I have a class Car and a derived SportsCar: Car
Something like this:
public class Car
{
public int TopSpeed{ get; set; }
}
public class SportsCar : Car
{
public string GirlFriend { get; set; }
}
I have a webservice with methods returning Cars i.e:
[WebMethod]
public Car GetCar()
{
return new Car() { TopSpeed = 100 };
}
It returns:
<Car>
<TopSpeed>100</TopSpeed>
</Car>
I have another method that also returns cars like this:
[WebMethod]
public Car GetMyCar()
{
Car mycar = new SportsCar() { GirlFriend = "JLo", TopSpeed = 300 };
return mycar;
}
It compiles fine and everything, but when invoking it I get:
System.InvalidOperationException: There was an error generating the XML document. --- System.InvalidOperationException: The type wsBaseDerived.SportsCar was not expected. Use the XmlInclude or SoapInclude attribute to specify types that are not known statically.
I find it strange that it can't serialize this as a straight car, as mycar is a car.
Adding XmlInclude on the WebMethod of ourse removes the error:
[WebMethod]
[XmlInclude(typeof(SportsCar))]
public Car GetMyCar()
{
Car mycar = new SportsCar() { GirlFriend = "JLo", TopSpeed = 300 };
return mycar;
}
and it now returns:
<Car xsi:type="SportsCar">
<TopSpeed>300</TopSpeed>
<GirlFriend>JLo</GirlFriend>
</Car>
But I really want the base class returned,
without the extra properties etc from the derived class.
Is that at all possible without creating mappers etc?
Please say yes ;)
