Question

I get an exception with the message: “There is an error in XML document”.

Code:

        private readonly SortedList<string, object> _attributes;

        [XmlArray("Attributes")] 
        [XmlArrayItem("AttributesLine", Type=typeof(DictionaryEntry))] 
        public DictionaryEntry[] _x_Attributes 
        { 
            get 
            { 
                DictionaryEntry[] ret = new DictionaryEntry[_attributes.Count]; 
                int i=0;
                foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> stuffLine in _attributes)
                {
                    object value = stuffLine.Value;     // <--- float[]         
                    ret[i++] = new DictionaryEntry {Key = stuffLine.Key, Value = value};                
                }
                return ret; 
            }
            set
            {
                _attributes.Clear();
                foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in value)
                {
                    _attributes.Add((string) entry.Key, entry.Value);
                }
            }
        }

The value of each key/value pair is of type float[]. I still want the value type to remain ‘System.Object’ as some keys can have values of types other than float[] (In any case, I get the exception even when the dictionary is populated with one entry).

Edit to clarify: I’m using the ‘XmlSerializer’, which worked fine when entry.Value was a ‘float’.

Answer 1

I am assuming you are using the XMLSerializer, which can’t handle Generic Dictionary objects. I have seen that error being thrown when using Dictionaries myself. You need to choose one of the other serializers which can handle them.

Try the DataContractSerializer instead.