[RESOLVED] Get all types in a structure

[formlesstree4]

Basically I have a system that will take an unknown structure (that should be marked serializable) and attempt to serialize it to a stream. However, before the system will do that, I want to know if there's a way to check every single variable/property to make sure that all the types are serializable.

Anyone know a way?

EDIT: For now, I was able to do this:

        Private Function IsSerializable(ByVal obj As [Object]) As [Boolean]

            If obj.GetType.IsSerializable Then
                For Each _field As Reflection.FieldInfo In obj.GetType().GetFields(Reflection.BindingFlags.Public Or Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic Or Reflection.BindingFlags.Static)
                    If Not _field.GetType().IsSerializable Then Return False
                Next
                Return True
            End If

            Return False

        End Function

I don't know if it works yet actually, kind of sad. I should probably test this out. Anyone have any suggestions still?


EDIT 2: The above code does not work, GetFields() Returns nothing and forces an exit. Changing to have no binding flags seems to work but the issue is if there's another structure inside then it would not be able to check it...the simplest method of this all is to just try serializing it and throwing an exception if it fails but that feels dirty.

[jmcilhinney]

If you want to test the object's type, and the types of all its fields, and the types of all their fields, and the types of all their fields, etc, does that sound kind of recursive?

[formlesstree4]

It does and I have a rather hack-y done code that seems to work!

    ''' <summary>
    ''' Loops through the entire object to see if it is indeed serializable.
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <param name="type"></param>
    ''' <returns></returns>
    ''' <remarks></remarks>
    Public Function IsTypeSerializable(ByVal type As [Type]) As Boolean

        'Final serializable result
        Dim _result As Boolean = True

        'Make sure our current type is serializable
        If type.IsSerializable Then

            'Ok, so now get any sub-fields.
            Dim _subFields() As Reflection.FieldInfo = type.GetFields(Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance Or Reflection.BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly Or Reflection.BindingFlags.Public Or Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic)

            'Loop each subfield
            For Each _field As Reflection.FieldInfo In _subFields

                'Get the type
                Dim _type As Type = _field.FieldType

                'Write it out
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Checking Type: {0}", _type.ToString()))

                'Check
                If _type Is GetType(String) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Integer) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Int32) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Int16) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Int64) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Long) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(ULong) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UInt16) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UInt32) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UInt64) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UInteger) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UIntPtr) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(IntPtr) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(UShort) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Short) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(Byte) Then
                    _result = True
                ElseIf _type Is GetType(SByte) Then
                    _result = True
                Else
                    _result = IsTypeSerializable(_type)
                    If Not _result Then
                        Console.WriteLine("Type {0} isn't serializable, exiting check!", _type.ToString())
                        Exit For
                    End If
                End If

                'Write out the result
                Console.WriteLine("Type {0} {1} serializable", _type.ToString(), If(_result, "is", "is not"))
                Console.WriteLine()

            Next

            '_result = True

        Else

            'The structure is not serializable
            _result = False

        End If

        'Give back the result
        Return _result

    End Function

There's a long series if ElseIf's because I couldn't find a way to make it make sense at all otherwise; could end up getting false positives but I'll run some more testing soon!

[jmcilhinney]

You might want to look at the Type.IsPrimitive property.

[formlesstree4]

You might want to look at the Type.IsPrimitive property.

It kept doing some funky stuff on me but I'll try it again!


EDIT: Fun fact, A string is not considered a primitive!
EDIT2: String reduced to Char, makes me feel stupid...anyway gonna fix this code up a little and update it.

[formlesstree4]

I made a codebank that contains the updated code. It works perfectly!

Here it is.