Question

I have a class that takes standard address properties and stores them. The State property is of type USStateCodesType. Here’s a sample of the code used to store the properties:

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.Xml", "4.0.30319.225")]
[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType=true, Namespace="http://SP/Items/Schemas")]
public partial class BusinessAddress
{

    private string address1Field;

    private string address2Field;

    private string cityField;

    private USStateCodesType stateField;

    private bool stateFieldSpecified;

    private string zipField;

    /// <remarks/>
    public string Address1
    {
        get
        {
            return this.address1Field;
        }
        set
        {
            this.address1Field = value;
        }
    }

The USStateCodesType contains a private dictionary with a string key and value. The default constructor loads up the dictionary and is called by any overloads. There is only one public Property, State. It is coded as follows:

    public string State
    {
        get
        {
            return iDict[_key];
        }
        set
        {
            if (iDict.ContainsValue(value))
            {
                foreach (string k in iDict.Keys)
                    if (iDict[k] == value)
                        _key = k;
            }
            else
                _key = string.Empty;                    
        }
    }

The attributes above the USStatesCodeType are identical to the earlier example.

The problem is, when I try to serialize the object to an XML String, i get something like this:

  <BusinessAddress>
    <Address1>12345 AnyStreet</Address1>
    <City>Los Angles</City>
    <Zip>90210</Zip>
  </BusinessAddress>

In my Database, I am storing CA. I want the XML to put out

  <BusinessAddress>
    <Address1>12345 AnyStreet</Address1>
    <City>Los Angles</City>
    <State>California</State>
    <Zip>90210</Zip>
  </BusinessAddress>

I check the properties of the object prior to serialization and the State Property shows California as the value.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

I would assume that you created an instance of BusinessAddress and specified the various properties:

BusinessAddress myBusinessAddress = new BusinessAddress();
myBusinessAddress.Address1 = "12345 AnyStreet";
myBusinessAddress.City = "Los Angeles";
myBusinessAddress.Zip = 90210;
myBusinessAddress.State = "California";

but most likely, you didn’t specify:

myBusinessAddress.StateFieldSpecified = true;

If you forget that option, your State field will not show up in the resulting serialized XML.

Set that boolean property, and it will show up!