Circular dependencies detection problem 2

[UladimirLameyko]

Continuation of #583

I have new case of same problem
Looks like this problem have more shades.
Problem found unexpectedly, previously we use .EnableReferences() but soon as we switched to .AllowMultipleReferences()
new problem is occured.
If I EnableReferences for same object it will serialize successfully, but will never use exs:reference="1"exs:identity="1"
I suppose this object should serialize with .AllowMultipleReferences only
Even Array.Empty will be detected as MultipleReferences

using ExtendedXmlSerializer;
using ExtendedXmlSerializer.Configuration;

var sameInnerObject = new InnerObject { Id = 100, Items = new string[] { } };
var testRootObject = new RootObject
{
    Item1 = sameInnerObject,
    Item2 = new InnerObject2 { Items = sameInnerObject.Items },
    List = new List<InnerObject>()
};

IExtendedXmlSerializer serializer = new ConfigurationContainer()
    .AllowMultipleReferences()
//.EnableReferences() 
    .Create();
var serialized = serializer.Serialize(testRootObject);
Console.WriteLine("Success");

public class RootObject
{
    public InnerObject Item1 { get; set; }
    public InnerObject2 Item2 { get; set; }
    public List<InnerObject> List { get; set; } = new();
}

public class InnerObject
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string[] Items { get; set; }
}

public class InnerObject2
{
    public string[] Items { get; set; }
}

[Mike-E-angelo]

Wow @UladimirLameyko I am a little shocked here. It appears the reference is not detected at all. Thank you for reporting this I will look into it for you. 👍

[Mike-E-angelo]

OK @UladimirLameyko I did look into this and we're running into a bit of a limitation here with ExtendedXmlSerializer. Basically, it stems from the classic serializer and empty collections are not emitted. This is what you are running into here with the above code. In this case. if you are using references with collections it is recommended/suggested you initialize with an empty instance, as such:

public class InnerObject
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string[] Items { get; set; } = Array.Empty<string>();
}

public class InnerObject2
{
    public string[] Items { get; set; } = Array.Empty<string>();
}

I concede this is not perfect but poking around any further would introduce breaking changes and/or additional functionality I would not be comfortable introducing at this point with my limitations at the moment.

That stated, I am definitely open to further discussion around this if you have further ideas/considerations/suggestions and even a PR if we can land on one. :)

[UladimirLameyko]

@Mike-E-angelo Problem not with empty arrays. Even if I put value into collection
var sameInnerObject = new InnerObject { Id = 100, Items = new string[] { "Some" } };
Exception still appear
Even if I initialize arrays with
public string[] Items { get; set; } = Array.Empty<string>();

[Mike-E-angelo]

Oh I see... are you saying this is throwing a CircularReferencesDetectedException instead of a MultipleReferencesDetectedException? I can look into that if so. 👍

[create-issue-branch]

Branch issues/fix/i593 created!

[Mike-E-angelo]

Alright @UladimirLameyko please try out the build as listed here:
#594 (comment)

And let me know if that works for you. If so I will push this to NuGet. 👍

[UladimirLameyko]

@Mike-E-angelo Look like it helps on my side.
Currently it is not generating Exceptions. Thanks.
Please push it into nuget😎

[Mike-E-angelo]

Great, sounds good @UladimirLameyko it has been deployed here:
https://www.nuget.org/packages/ExtendedXmlSerializer

I appreciate your continued feedback and cooperation towards improving ExtendedXmlSerializer 👍

ExtendedXmlSerializer 3.7.10

An extensible Xml Serializer for .NET that builds on the functionality of the classic XmlSerializer with a powerful and robust extension model.