ProtoBuf-Net: No serializer defined for type: System.Object

Question

I am serializing an object with only properties being stored. It has a parent inheritance but I made sure the serialized attributes are of different indexes with the numbers.

[ProtoContract]
[ProtoInclude(597, typeof(DesiredProto))]
[ProtoInclude(598, typeof(RandomClass1Proto))]
[ProtoInclude(599, typeof(RandomClass2Proto))]
[ProtoInclude(600, typeof(RandomClass3Proto))]
public class BaseProto
{
   protected string mName = "";
   protected string mOwner = "";
   protected VObjectType mVType; //this is an enumeration!
   public BaseProto(){}

  [ProtoMember(1)]
  public String Name
  {
     get { return mName; }
     set { mName = value;}
  }

  [ProtoMember(2)]
  public String Owner
  {
     get { return mOwner; }
     set { mOwner = value;}
  }

  [ProtoMember(3)]
  public VObjectType VType
  {
     get { return mVType; }
     set { mVType = value;}
  }
}

and then DesiredProto:

 [ProtoContract]
public class DesiredProto : BaseProto
{
  protected DestinationType mDestType;
  protected string mAddress = "";

  public DesiredProto()
  {
  }

  [ProtoMember(1)]
  public DestinationType DestType //this is an enumeration
  {
     get { return mDestType; }
     set { mDestType = value;}
  }

  [ProtoMember(2)]
  public String Address
  {
     get { return mAddress; }
     set { mAddress = value;}
  }
 }

Now the really weird part is that the serialization seemingly is completely functional. Whenever I serialize and deserialize this "DesiredProto" it works, if I ignore the error. Lastly this isn't the full code snippet for these classes, they are much much longer, but hopefully the error is somehow contained in this.

Minor thing for info, but if you're using a recent version of C#, you may want to make use of automatically implemented properties - they save a lot of messing; for example: [ProtoMember(2)] public string Address {get;set;} - the compiler does basically exactly the same as you did (behind the scenes), but without the risk of making typos (using the wrong field, etc) — Marc Gravell
And thank you for the tip, I didn't know that those formats did the same thing! I am working with an "outdated" software solution. — jStaff

Marc Gravell Marc Gravell · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-26T15:24:24

Works fine here:

using ProtoBuf;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        BaseProto obj = new DesiredProto
        {
            Address = "123 Somewhere",
            DestType = DestinationType.Foo,
            Name = "Marc",
            Owner = "Also Marc",
            VType = VObjectType.A
        };
        BaseProto clone = Serializer.DeepClone(obj);
        DesiredProto typedClone = (DesiredProto)clone;
        Console.WriteLine(typedClone.Address);
        Console.WriteLine(typedClone.DestType);
        Console.WriteLine(typedClone.Name);
        Console.WriteLine(typedClone.Owner);
        Console.WriteLine(typedClone.VType);
    }
}

public enum DestinationType { Foo } // I just made a guess here
public enum VObjectType // you said this is an enum
{
    A, B, C
}
class RandomClass1Proto : BaseProto { } // just a dummy type to make it complile
class RandomClass2Proto : BaseProto { }
class RandomClass3Proto : BaseProto { }

// omitted: code from the question here

So: whatever the problem is, it doesn't show from your sample code. So the next step is to gradually introduce the context of your question until it starts breaking; then you'll know that the problem is in the last change you added.

ProtoBuf-Net: No serializer defined for type: System.Object

1 Answers