Serialize read-only properties

First up, apologies for the long post, i just like to be as descriptive as possible in my opening post.

I have written a small webservice that (attempts to) return a class.

Basic Class Layout:

<Serializable()> _ PublicClass User Private _NTloginAsString Private _DisplayNameAsString Private _DepartmentAsString Private _EmailAddressAsString PublicReadOnlyProperty NTlogin()AsString Get Return _NTlogin EndGet EndProperty PublicReadOnlyProperty DisplayName()AsString Get Return _DisplayName EndGet EndProperty PublicReadOnlyProperty Department()AsString Get Return _Department EndGet EndProperty PublicReadOnlyProperty EmailAddress()AsString Get Return _EmailAddress EndGet EndProperty PublicSubNew() MyBase.New() EndSub PublicSubNew(ByVal aAsString,ByVal bAsString,ByVal cAsString,ByVal dAsString) _NTlogin = a _DisplayName = b _Department = c _EmailAddress = d EndSub EndClass

This class is populated and returned by a web method:

<WebMethod()> _ PublicFunction get_Specific_User_coll(ByVal ntLoginAsString)As ButtyBox.User _Conn =New SqlConnection(_ConnS) _Comm =New SqlCommand("get_User", _Conn) _Comm.CommandType = Data.CommandType.StoredProcedure _Para =New SqlParameter("@NT_Login", Data.SqlDbType.VarChar) _Para.Value = ntLogin _Comm.Parameters.Add(_Para) Dim dsAsNew Data.DataSet("User") Dim daAsNew SqlDataAdapter(_Comm) da.Fill(ds) _Para =Nothing _Comm =Nothing _Conn =Nothing da =Nothing Dim rowAs Data.DataRow Dim myUserOAsNew ButtyBox.User ForEach rowIn ds.Tables(0).Rows Dim myUserAsNew ButtyBox.User(row.Item(0).ToString, row.Item(1).ToString, row.Item(2).ToString, row.Item(3).ToString) myUserO = myUser Next row =Nothing ds.Clear() ds =Nothing Return myUserO EndFunction

This method is an interim test method, as the final output will be a collection of these classes.

If i run the above, it all runs fine, but im always left with empty results, e.g.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<User xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://blahblah.com/" />

If i set the properties to read-write, or export the data using a dataset, then the results are displayed, e.g.

I change the readonly property of NTlogin to a read-write property:

PublicProperty NTlogin()AsString Get Return _NTlogin EndGet Set(ByVal valueAsString) _NTlogin = value EndSet EndProperty

then the results are returned as:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <User xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://blahblah.com/">
<ntLogin>ASR\MiWard</ntLogin>
</User>

So, long story short, i can serialize read-write properties, but i really want these to be read-only to force other developers to use my methods for populating the classes. It appears to be a serialization thing where it cannot reverse lookup the values as it cant get into the read-only properties.

i have read some articles on the iSerializabe interface, but have made no head way with it at all (ie, i get the same results)

Anyone here know how to serialize read-only properties?
is it even possible or am i just missing some glaringly obvious fact here?

Thanks in advance,
Mike.

[8914 byte] By [MaaWaa] at [2008-2-13]