C＃XMLSerializer将错误的类型反序列化为List

Question

The program below is a contrived example of a problem I found when deserializing XML in C#. I have two separate assemblies which declare a type with the same name, 'Country' in the example below. The types are differentiated by XML namespace. When I deserialize a configuration file containing a single 'Country' element then the correct 'Country' type is resolved. However if I deserialize a 'List' of 'Country' elements then the wrong 'Country' type is deserialized.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        XDocument gbConfig = XDocument.Parse(@"<TradingBlocConfiguration>
                                                 <GreatBritain>
                                                   <Country/>
                                                   <Countries>
                                                      <Country/>
                                                      <Country/>                                                                        
                                                    </Countries>
                                                  </GreatBritain>                                                                     </TradingBlocConfiguration>");


        XDocument euConfig = XDocument.Parse(@"<TradingBlocConfiguration>
                                                 <EuropeanUnion>
                                                   <Country/>
                                                   <Countries>
                                                      <Country/>
                                                      <Country/>                                                                        
                                                    </Countries>
                                                  </EuropeanUnion>                                                                     </TradingBlocConfiguration>");

        var greatBritainConfiguration = BuildConfig<TradingBlocConfiguration>(gbConfig);

        // A single 'Country' is always deserialized correctly..
        Console.WriteLine("Great Britain Country Type   " + greatBritainConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountry.GetType());

        // A List of 'Country' is deserialized to the wrong type, depending on what '[XmlElement]' tag is listed first.
        Console.WriteLine("Great Britain Countries Type " + greatBritainConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountries[0].GetType());

        var euConfiguration = BuildConfig<TradingBlocConfiguration>(euConfig);
        Console.WriteLine("EU Country Type              " + euConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountry.GetType());
        Console.WriteLine("EU Countries Type            " + euConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountries[0].GetType());

        Console.ReadLine();
    }

    private static T BuildConfig<T>(XDocument doc) where T : class
    {
        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        doc.Save(stream);     

        T result;
        using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
        {
            stream.Position = 0;
            var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
            result = (T)xs.Deserialize(reader);
        }

        return result;
    }
}

[XmlRoot("TradingBlocConfiguration")]
public sealed class TradingBlocConfiguration
{
    [XmlElement("GreatBritain", typeof(GB.GreatBritain))]
    [XmlElement("EuropeanUnion", typeof(EU.EuropeanUnion))]
    public TradingBloc TradingBlocConfig { get; set; }        
}

[XmlRoot]
[XmlInclude(typeof(GB.GreatBritain))]
[XmlInclude(typeof(EU.EuropeanUnion))]
public class BaseCountry { }

public abstract class TradingBloc
{
    [XmlIgnore]
    public abstract List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

    [XmlIgnore]
    public abstract BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }
}

namespace GB
{       
    [XmlRoot("GreatBritain")]
    public class GreatBritain : TradingBloc
    {
        [XmlElement("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }

        [XmlArray("Countries")]
        [XmlArrayItem("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

        [XmlRoot(Namespace = "GB")]
        public class Country : BaseCountry { }
    }
}

namespace EU
{        
    [XmlRoot("EuropeanUnion")]
    public class EuropeanUnion : TradingBloc
    {
        [XmlElement("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }

        [XmlArray("Countries")]
        [XmlArrayItem("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

        [XmlRoot(Namespace = "EU")]
        public class Country : BaseCountry { }
    }
}

If you run the example above the output is:

Great Britain Country Type   XmlSerializationTests.GB.GreatBritain+Country
Great Britain Countries Type XmlSerializationTests.EU.EuropeanUnion+Country
EU Country Type              XmlSerializationTests.EU.EuropeanUnion+Country
EU Countries Type            XmlSerializationTests.EU.EuropeanUnion+Country

The 'Great Britain Countries Type' is incorrect. If you change the order of [XmlElement] attributes in the TradingBlocConfiguration class like:

[XmlRoot("TradingBlocConfiguration")]
public sealed class TradingBlocConfiguration
{        
    [XmlElement("EuropeanUnion", typeof(EU.EuropeanUnion))]
    [XmlElement("GreatBritain", typeof(GB.GreatBritain))]
    public TradingBloc TradingBlocConfig { get; set; }
}

Then the results changes to:

Great Britain Country Type   XmlSerializationTests.GB.GreatBritain+Country
Great Britain Countries Type XmlSerializationTests.GB.GreatBritain+Country
EU Country Type              XmlSerializationTests.EU.EuropeanUnion+Country
EU Countries Type            XmlSerializationTests.GB.GreatBritain+Country

In this case Britain looks good but the EU is wrong :). Can anyone explain why the List is deserialized to the wrong type?

Answer 1

Solution was to add xmlns tags. The updated code below works correctly:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        XDocument gbConfig = XDocument.Parse(@"<TradingBlocConfiguration>
                                             <GreatBritain xmlns=""GB"">
                                               <Country/>
                                               <Countries>
                                                  <Country/>
                                                  <Country/>                                                                        
                                                </Countries>
                                              </GreatBritain>                                                                     </TradingBlocConfiguration>");


        XDocument euConfig = XDocument.Parse(@"<TradingBlocConfiguration>
                                             <EuropeanUnion xmlns=""EU"">
                                               <Country/>
                                               <Countries>
                                                  <Country/>
                                                  <Country/>                                                                        
                                                </Countries>
                                              </EuropeanUnion>                                                                     </TradingBlocConfiguration>");

        var greatBritainConfiguration = BuildConfig<TradingBlocConfiguration>(gbConfig);

        // A single 'Country' is always deserialized correctly..
        Console.WriteLine("Great Britain Country Type   " + greatBritainConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountry.GetType());

        // A List of 'Country' is deserialized to the wrong type, depending on what '[XmlElement]' tag is listed first.
        Console.WriteLine("Great Britain Countries Type " + greatBritainConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountries[0].GetType());

        var euConfiguration = BuildConfig<TradingBlocConfiguration>(euConfig);
        Console.WriteLine("EU Country Type              " + euConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountry.GetType());
        Console.WriteLine("EU Countries Type            " + euConfiguration.TradingBlocConfig.MemberCountries[0].GetType());

        Console.ReadLine();
    }

    private static T BuildConfig<T>(XDocument doc) where T : class
    {
        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        doc.Save(stream);

        T result;
        using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
        {
            stream.Position = 0;
            var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T), new Type[] { typeof(GB.GreatBritain.Country) });
            result = (T)xs.Deserialize(reader);
        }

        return result;
    }
}

[XmlRoot("TradingBlocConfiguration")]
public sealed class TradingBlocConfiguration
{
    [XmlElement("GreatBritain", typeof(GB.GreatBritain), Namespace = "GB")]
    [XmlElement("EuropeanUnion", typeof(EU.EuropeanUnion), Namespace = "EU")]
    public TradingBloc TradingBlocConfig { get; set; }
}

[XmlRoot]
[XmlInclude(typeof(GB.GreatBritain))]
[XmlInclude(typeof(EU.EuropeanUnion))]
public class BaseCountry { }

public abstract class TradingBloc
{
    [XmlIgnore]
    public abstract List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

    [XmlIgnore]
    public abstract BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }
}

namespace GB
{
    [XmlRoot("GreatBritain")]
    public class GreatBritain : TradingBloc
    {
        [XmlElement("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }

        [XmlArray("Countries")]
        [XmlArrayItem("Country", typeof(Country))]

        public override List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

        [XmlRoot(Namespace = "GB")]
        public class Country : BaseCountry { }
    }
}

namespace EU
{
    [XmlRoot("EuropeanUnion")]
    public class EuropeanUnion : TradingBloc
    {
        [XmlElement("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override BaseCountry MemberCountry { get; set; }

        [XmlArray("Countries")]
        [XmlArrayItem("Country", typeof(Country))]
        public override List<BaseCountry> MemberCountries { get; set; }

        [XmlRoot(Namespace = "EU")]
        public class Country : BaseCountry { }
    }
}