Question

I have a DateRange object that represents the notion of Infinity via Static reference as shown below. As you see, the end points that define Infinity are also static references in a different class, DatePoint.Past and DatePoint.Future.

Now I need to serialize this (as part of a deep Clone method that uses serialization) and know when it’s deserialized that an instance with DateTime.Min and DateTime.Max as endpoints then the instance should be DateRange.Infinity. So I think I need to make it ISerializable.

My first attempt at implementing ISerializable is quite poor; and but I’m showing it in the hopes it suggests a quicker fix to someone. I have used some similar code for NHibernate to store DateRange in the db and reconstitue Infinity, but I’m not getting how to apply that for serialization yet.

DatePoint is marked [Serializable] but does not implement ISerializable.

edited question

I am not looking to serialize/deserialize Infinity. What I am looking for is a hook into where I can take the deserialized DataRange and decide if it is equivalent to Infinity.

**

Cheers,
Berryl

DateRange

[Serializable]
[TypeConverter(typeof(DateRangeTypeConverter))]
public class DateRange : ValueObject, IRange<DatePoint, DateRange, TimeSpan>, ISerializable
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Returns a range spanning <see cref="DatePoint.Past"/> and <see cref="DatePoint.Future"/>.
    /// </summary>
    public static readonly DateRange Infinity = new DateRange(DatePoint.Past, DatePoint.Future);


    /// <summary> The start of the <see cref="DateRange"/> range. </summary>
    public DatePoint Start { get; protected set; }

    /// <summary> The end of the <see cref="DateRange"/> range. </summary>
    public DatePoint End { get; protected set; }

}

DatePoint

public class DatePoint : ValueObject, IComparable<DatePoint>, IComparable<DateTime>, IComparable, IEquatable<DatePoint>, IEquatable<DateTime>, IFormattable
{

    /// <summary>The undefined infinite past, smaller than any other date except itself.</summary>
    public readonly static DatePoint Past = DateTime.MinValue;

    /// <summary>The undefined infinite future, larger than any other date except itself.</summary>
    public readonly static DatePoint Future = DateTime.MaxValue;

}

First ISerializable attempt

    protected DateRange(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext ctx) {
        if (info == null)
            throw new System.ArgumentNullException("info");
        var start = (DatePoint)info.GetValue("Start", typeof(DatePoint));
        var end = (DatePoint)info.GetValue("End", typeof(DatePoint));
        // its Infinity if so
        if((start.Equals(DatePoint.Past) && end.Equals(DatePoint.Future)))
            return;
    }

    public void GetObjectData(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
    {
    }

Answer 1

You can implement IObjectReference and replace the object after deserialization:

object IObjectReference.GetRealObject(StreamingContext context)
{
    if (Start.Equals(DatePoint.Past) && End.Equals(DatePoint.Future))
    {
        return Infinity;
    }
}

See the documentation.