Binary Serialization and Custom Collections

[arcanine]

I used the ideas from this post to create a custom collection of my custom class, so that I would be able to easily sort my collection. My project uses binary serialization to save everything (well the important stuff anyway) to a file. The problem is that my custom collection now breaks the serialization.

I can't seem to figure out how to get the custom collection to serialize!

Here is my code for the custom collection class:

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Runtime.Serialization
Imports System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary
 
<Serializable()> _
Public Class FGSDataCollection
    Inherits System.ComponentModel.BindingList(Of FGSData)
 
    Implements ISerializable
 
#Region "Initializer"
    Public Sub New()
        ' need this for new empty list
    End Sub
#End Region 'Initializer
 
#Region "Types"
    Private Class FGSDataComparer
        Implements System.Collections.Generic.IComparer(Of FGSData)
 
        Private prop As PropertyDescriptor
        Private direction As ListSortDirection
 
        Public Function Compare(ByVal x As FGSData, ByVal y As FGSData) As Integer Implements IComparer(Of FGSData).Compare
            Dim result As Integer = DirectCast(Me.prop.GetValue(x), IComparable).CompareTo(Me.prop.GetValue(y))
 
            If Me.direction = ListSortDirection.Descending Then
                result = -result
            End If
 
            Return result
        End Function
 
        Public Sub New(ByVal prop As PropertyDescriptor, ByVal direction As ListSortDirection)
            Me.prop = prop
            Me.direction = direction
        End Sub
    End Class
#End Region 'Types
 
#Region "Variables"
    Private _sort As String
    Private _sortProperty As PropertyDescriptor
    Private _sortDirection As ListSortDirection
#End Region 'Variables
 
#Region "Properties"
    Public Property Sort() As String
        Get
            Return Me._sort
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Dim prop As PropertyDescriptor = Nothing
            Dim direction As ListSortDirection
 
            Me.ParseSortClause(value, prop, direction)
            Me._sort = value
 
            If prop Is Nothing Then
                Me.RemoveSortCore()
            Else
                Me.ApplySortCore(prop, direction)
            End If
        End Set
    End Property
 
    Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SortDirectionCore() As System.ComponentModel.ListSortDirection
        Get
            Return Me._sortDirection
        End Get
    End Property
 
    Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SortPropertyCore() As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptor
        Get
            Return Me._sortProperty
        End Get
    End Property
 
    Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SupportsSortingCore() As Boolean
        Get
            Return True
        End Get
    End Property
#End Region 'Properties
 
#Region "Methods"
    Protected Overrides Sub ApplySortCore(ByVal prop As PropertyDescriptor, ByVal direction As ListSortDirection)
        Me._sortProperty = prop
        Me._sortDirection = direction
 
        Dim upperBound As Integer = Me.Items.Count - 1
        Dim items(upperBound) As FGSData
 
        Me.Items.CopyTo(items, 0)
 
        Array.Sort(items, New FGSDataComparer(prop, direction))
 
        For index As Integer = 0 To upperBound
            Me.Items(index) = items(index)
        Next
 
        Me.OnListChanged(New ListChangedEventArgs(ListChangedType.Reset, 0))
    End Sub
 
    Protected Overrides Sub RemoveSortCore()
        Me._sortProperty = Nothing
        Me._sortDirection = Nothing
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub ParseSortClause(ByVal clause As String, _
                                ByRef prop As PropertyDescriptor, _
                                ByRef direction As ListSortDirection)
        If clause IsNot Nothing AndAlso clause.Trim() <> String.Empty Then
            Dim parts As String() = clause.Split(" "c)
 
            If parts.Length > 2 Then
                Throw New ArgumentException("Invalid sort clause")
            End If
 
            For index As Integer = 0 To parts.GetUpperBound(0)
                parts(index) = parts(index).Trim()
            Next
 
            prop = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(GetType(FGSData))(parts(0))
 
            If prop Is Nothing Then
                Throw New ArgumentException("Invalid property name")
            End If
 
            If parts.Length = 1 OrElse _
               parts(1) = String.Empty OrElse _
               String.Compare(parts(1), "ASC", True) = 0 Then
                direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending
            ElseIf String.Compare(parts(1), "DESC", True) = 0 Then
                direction = ListSortDirection.Descending
            Else
                Throw New ArgumentException("Invalid sort direction")
            End If
        End If
    End Sub
#End Region 'Methods
 
#Region "Serialization"
    Protected Sub New(ByVal info As SerializationInfo, ByVal context As StreamingContext)
        ' This gets the data without error.
        ' The list contains the correct number of items,
        ' but each item is Nothing.
        Dim data As List(Of FGSData) = info.GetValue("FGSData", GetType(List(Of FGSData)))
        For Each fgs As FGSData In data
            Me.Add(fgs)
        Next
 
        ' I think I want to do this, but Me.Items is read only
        'Me.Items = info.GetValue("FGSData", GetType(List(Of FGSData)))
 
        ' Ultimately, this is the part that is giving me problems.
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub GetObjectData(ByVal info As SerializationInfo, ByVal context As StreamingContext) Implements ISerializable.GetObjectData
        info.AddValue("FGSData", Me.Items)
    End Sub
#End Region 'Serialization
End Class