XML serialization and deserialization

• US 6,898,604 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2001
• Issued: 05/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Christensen, Erik B., Pharies, Stefan H., Ballinger, Keith W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/894,829
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 707/101, 707/103, 707/100, 707/104, 715/507, 715/513, 719/318, 717/107
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

An object instance is serialized to a serial format, such as an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document, based on a mapping between an arbitrary annotated source code file and a schema. The arbitrary annotated source code contains at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance and the schema describes a format of a document having a serial format. The mapping defines a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format. Subsequently, an object instance is converted to the serial format by converting public properties, public fields and method parameters of the object instance to a document having the serial format based on the mapping. Once the mapping is defined, an XML document can also be converted to an object instance based on the mapping.

Claims

1. A method for serializing an object instance to a serial format, the method comprising steps of:

generating a mapping between an arbitrary annotated source code file and a schema, the arbitrary annotated source code file containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance and the schema describing a format of a document having a serial format, the mapping defining a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format; and

converting an object instance corresponding to the arbitrary annotated source code to the serial format by converting at least one of a public property, a public field and a method parameter of the object instance to a document having the serial format based on the mapping.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of converting the object instance to the document having the serial format converts the object instance to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the serial format contains a shape of each class of the object instance and contains data contained within the object instance.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on the arbitrary annotated source code file.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the arbitrary annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied arbitrary annotated source code file using reflection.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document,

the method further comprising a step of converting the XML document to the object instance based on the mapping generated between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the XML schema.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary annotated source code file includes custom attributes that control a format of the object when the object is converted to the serial format.

9. A method for converting a document in a serial format to an object instance, the method comprising steps of:

generating a mapping between an arbitrary annotated source code file and a schema, the mapping defining a correspondence between a shape of an object instance and a format of a document having a serial format; and

converting a document having the serial format to an object instance based on the mapping, the document in the serial format containing at least one of a public property, a public field and a method parameter of the object instance.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the document in the serial format is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on the arbitrary annotated source code file.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the arbitrary annotated code includes custom attributes that control a format of the object.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the arbitrary annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied arbitrary annotated source code file using reflection.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising a step of converting an object instance to a document in a serial format based on the mapping generated between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of converting the object instance to a document in the serial format converts the object instance to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

17. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

generating a mapping between an arbitrary annotated source code file and a schema, the arbitrary annotated source code containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance and the schema describing a format of a document having a serial format, the mapping defining a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format; and

converting an object instance corresponding to the arbitrary annotated source code to the serial format by converting at least one of a public property, a public field and a method parameter of the object instance to a document having the serial format based on the mapping.

18. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the step of converting the object instance to the document having the serial format converts the object instance to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

19. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the serial format contains a shape of each class of the object instance and contains data contained within the object instance.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on the arbitrary annotated source code file.

21. The computer-readable medium according to claim 20, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the arbitrary annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied arbitrary annotated source code file using reflection.

22. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema and based on at least one predetermined rule relating the schema to at least one selected programming type.

23. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document,

the method further comprising a step of converting the XML document to the object instance based on the mapping generated between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the XML schema.

24. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the arbitrary annotated source code includes custom attributes that control a format of the object when the object is converted to the serial format.

25. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

generating a mapping between an arbitrary annotated source code file and a schema, the mapping defining a correspondence between a shape of an object instance and a format of a document having a serial format; and

converting a document having the serial format to an object instance based on the mapping, the document in the serial format containing at least one of a public property, a public field and a method parameter of the object instance.

26. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the document in the serial format is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

27. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on the arbitrary annotated source code file.

28. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the arbitrary annotated code includes custom attributes that control a format of the object.

29. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the arbitrary annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied arbitrary annotated source code file using reflection.

30. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema.

31. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, further comprising a step of converting an object instance to a document in a serial format based on the mapping generated between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema.

32. The computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein the step of converting the object instance to a document in the serial format converts the object instance to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

33. A method for generating a mapping for serializing an object into a document having a serial format and for deserializing a document having a serial format into an object, the method comprising steps of:

generating a schema corresponding to an annotated source code file, the annotated source code file containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance, and the schema describing a format of a document having a serial format; and

generating a mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema, the mapping defining a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the document having the serial format is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

35. The method according to claim 33, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied annotated source code file using reflection.

36. The method according to claim 33, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema.

37. The method according to claim 33, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document.

38. The method according to claim 33, wherein the arbitrary annotated source code includes custom attributes that control a format of the object when the object is converted to the serial format based on the mapping.

39. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 33.

40. A method for serializing and deserializing an object, the method comprising steps of:

generating a schema corresponding to an annotated source code file, the annotated source code file containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance, and the schema describing a format of a document having a serial format; and

converting an object instance corresponding to the annotated source code to the serial format by converting at least one of a public property, a public field and a method parameter of the object instance to a document having the serial format based on a mapping.

41. The method according to claim 40, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document,

the method further comprising a step of converting the XML document to the object instance based on the mapping generated between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the XML schema.

42. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 41.

43. The method according to claim 40, wherein the annotated source code includes custom attributes that control a format of the object when the object is converted to the serial format.

44. The method according to claim 40, further comprising a step of generating a mapping between the annotated source code file and the schema, the mapping defining a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the step of generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema includes steps of:

compiling the arbitrary annotated source code file; and

generating the mapping between the arbitrary annotated source code file and the schema based on the complied arbitrary annotated source code file using reflection.

46. The method according to claim 40, wherein the step of converting the object instance to the document having the serial format converts the object instance to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

47. The method according to claim 40, wherein the serial format contains a shape of each class of the object instance and contains data contained within the object instance.

48. A method for generating source code based on a schema, the method comprising steps of:

importing a schema describing a format of a document having a serial format; and

generating source code based on the imported schema, the generated source code containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance and is related to the serial format of a document described by the schema.

49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising a step of

generating a mapping based on the schema, the mapping defining a correspondence between the shape of the object instance and the format of the document having the serial format, and

wherein the step of generating the source code is based on the generated mapping.

50. The method according to claim 49, wherein the step of generating the mapping generates the mapping based on a pattern of the schema.

51. The method according to claim 48, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document.

52. The method according to claim 48, wherein the serial format contains a shape of each class of an object instance corresponding to the generated source code.

53. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 48.

54. A method for generating a schema based on source code, the method comprising steps of:

importing an annotated source code file containing at least one programming type that describes a shape of an object instance; and

generating a schema based on the imported annotated source code, the generated schema describing a format of a document having a serial format.

55. The method according to claim 54, wherein the step of importing the annotated source code file includes steps of:

compiling the annotated source code file; and

generating a mapping based on the compiled annotated source code file using reflection.

56. The method according to claim 54, wherein the schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema (XSD) and the document in the serial format is an XML document.

57. The method according to claim 56, wherein the serial format contains a shape of each class of the object instance.

58. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 54.