Question

The problem:

I have a custom collection PagedList<T> that is being returned from my WCF service as PagedListOfEntitySearchResultW_SH0Zpu5 when T is EntitySearchResult object.

I want to reuse this PagedList<T> type between the application and the service.

My scenario:

I’ve created a PagedList<T> type that inherits from List<T>.
This type is on a separated assembly that is referenced on both application and WCF service.

I’m using the /reference option on the scvutil to enable the type reusing. I also don’t want any arrays returned so I also use the /collection to map to the generic List type.
I’m using the following svcutil command to generate the service proxy:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\svcutil.exe" 
/collectionType:System.Collections.Generic.List`1 
/reference:..\..\bin\Debug\App.Utilities.dll 
http://localhost/App.MyService/MyService.svc?wsdl  
/namespace:*,"App.ServiceReferences.MyService" 
/out:..\ServiceProxy\MyService.cs

The PagedList object is something like:

 [CollectionDataContract]
 public partial class PagedList<T> : List<T>
 {

  public PagedList() { }

  /// <summary>
  /// Creates a new instance of the PagedList object and doesn't apply any pagination algorithm.
  /// The only calculated property is the TotalPages, everything else needed must be passed to the object.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="source"></param>
  /// <param name="pageNumber"></param>
  /// <param name="pageSize"></param>
  /// <param name="totalRecords"></param>
  public PagedList(IEnumerable<T> source, int pageNumber, int pageSize, int totalRecords)
  {
   if (source == null)
    source = new List<T>();

   this.AddRange(source);

   PagingInfo.PageNumber = pageNumber;
   PageSize = pageSize;
   TotalRecords = totalRecords;
  }

  public PagedList(IEnumerable<T> source, PagingInfo paging)
  {
   this.AddRange(source);
   this._pagingInfo = paging;
  }

  [DataMember]
  public int TotalRecords { get; set; }

  [DataMember]
  public int PageSize { get; set; }

  public int TotalPages()
  {
   if (this.TotalRecords > 0 && PageSize > 0)
    return (int)Math.Ceiling((double)TotalRecords / (double)PageSize);
   else
    return 0;
  }

  public bool? HasPreviousPage() 
  { 
   return (PagingInfo.PageNumber > 1); 
  }

  public bool? HasNextPage() { return (PagingInfo.PageNumber < TotalPages()); }

  public bool? IsFirstPage() { return PagingInfo.PageNumber == 1; }

  public bool? IsLastPage() { return PagingInfo.PageNumber == TotalPages(); }

  PagingInfo _pagingInfo = null;
  [DataMember]
  public PagingInfo PagingInfo
  {
   get {
    if (_pagingInfo == null)
     _pagingInfo = new PagingInfo();

    return _pagingInfo;
   }
   set 
   { 
    _pagingInfo = value;
   }
  }
 }

Answer 1

I think I know what’s happening here…
The /collection is conflicting with the /reference on this case as my PagedList object inherits from List<T>.
I just changed the /collection to the following and it now works.

/collectionType:App.Utilities.Data.PagedList`1

The thing is that all my collections will the retrieved as PagedList.
This isn’t really a problem for me but would be need to be able to retrieve List<T> by default and PagedList<T> when needed.