A mysterious exception here: XamlParseException

Question

Here is my code:

    public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
    List<Cliente> CContent;
    string mainPath = @"D:\70-536\Clientes.dat";

    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        Do();
    }

    private void Do()
    {

        FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(mainPath);
        if (fi.Exists)
        {
            CContent = ReturnListOfPersistentFile<Cliente>(mainPath);
        }
        else
        {
            CContent = new List<Cliente>();
        }
    }

    public List<T> ReturnListOfPersistentFile<T> (string Filename)
    {
        SoapFormatter sf = new SoapFormatter();

        using (Stream fStream = new FileStream(Filename,FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read,FileShare.None))
        {
            List<T> list = new List<T>();
            list = (List<T>)sf.Deserialize(fStream);

            return list;
        }

    }

This is the stacktrace of my innerexception:

en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e) en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String arg) en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowUnclosedElements() en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseAttributes() en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElement() en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent() en System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read() en System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read() en System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapParser.ParseXml()
en System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapParser.Run() en System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.ObjectReader.Deserialize(HeaderHandler handler, ISerParser serParser) en System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapFormatter.Deserialize(Stream serializationStream, HeaderHandler handler) en System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapFormatter.Deserialize(Stream serializationStream) en Solution1.MainWindow.ReturnListOfPersistentFile[T](String Filename) en c:\users\u201114160\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\Solution1\Solution1\MainWindow.xaml.cs:línea 99 en Solution1.MainWindow.Do() en c:\users\u201114160\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\Solution1\Solution1\MainWindow.xaml.cs:línea 45
en Solution1.MainWindow..ctor() en c:\users\u201114160\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\Solution1\Solution1\MainWindow.xaml.cs:línea 36

It drives me crazy, some ideas? This exception was throwed because "ReturnListOfPersistentFile" generic method, but WHY?

Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: I was trying to serialize a generic list with SOAP formatter, but SOAP formatter doesn't support generic lists.

I ran into this thread on forums.microsoft.com. Let me quote what microsoft employee said:

We have decided not to invest in any significant new feature work for the SoapFormatter in Whidbey

Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

Looking at your stacktrace, I notice the method ThrowUnclosedElements. This makes me think that you got a corrupted or ill-formated file.

As yourself have pointed out, SOAP serialization doesn't support generic lists. As I understand, this means that you tried to serialize a List and as result you got a file that cannot be deserialized. This have been discussed before here, and also here (your own cite) among other places.

A solution may be to use a non-generic, old fashion, forgotten ArrayList. Of course you got to access the items and cast them to the appropriate type, this can be done with a wrapper class.

An alternative is to serialize object per object, instead of serializing the list.