Export object properties and attributes to XML

Hey,

Im wondering if there is some way to export all object properties and
attributes such as size, position, color, etc in a VB project/file to XML I
am using Visual Studio .net 2003.

Thanks.

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Export object properties and attributes to XML

pdq2

Ultimately you could use XmlSerialization and Xsd.exe to produce what you are looking for. However, i'm guessing that this isn't what you want because "everything" wont neccessarily be output with those methods unless you do quite a bit of work ahead of time.

You can always use reflection to look at an assembly like the following:

Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Xml

Module Module1
   Dim methodElement As XmlElement
   Dim paramElement As XmlElement
   Dim templateDoc As New XmlDocument

   Sub Main()
      templateDoc.LoadXml("<program/>")
      Dim my_Type As System.Type = GetType(MySpecialClass)
      Dim methods As MethodInfo() = my_Type.GetMethods()
      For Each method As MethodInfo In methods
         AppendMethod(method.Name, _
            IIf(method.IsPrivate, "private", _
            IIf(method.IsPublic, "public", "")), method.GetParameters())
      Next
   Console.Out.WriteLine(templateDoc.InnerXml)
   Console.In.ReadLine()
End Sub

Sub AppendMethod(ByVal name As String, _
   ByVal modifier As String, _
   Optional ByVal params As _
   ParameterInfo() = Nothing)
      methodElement = templateDoc.CreateElement("method")
      methodElement.Attributes.Append( _
         templateDoc.CreateAttribute("modifier")).Value = modifier
      methodElement.Attributes.Append( _
         templateDoc.CreateAttribute("name")).Value = name
      If Not IsNothing(params) Then
         For Each param As ParameterInfo In params
            paramElement = templateDoc.CreateElement("param")
            paramElement.Attributes.Append( _
               templateDoc.CreateAttribute("name")).Value = param.Name
            methodElement.AppendChild(paramElement)
         Next
      End If
      templateDoc.DocumentElement.AppendChild(methodElement)
   End Sub
End Module

Public Class MySpecialClass
   Private my_Property As String
   Public Property MyProperty() As String
      Get
         Return my_Property
      End Get
      Set(ByVal value As String)
         my_Property = value
      End Set
   End Property
   Private Function MyPrivateFunction(ByVal myParam As String) As String
      Return String.Empty
   End Function
   Public Function MyPublicFunction(ByRef myParam As String) As String
      Return String.Empty
   End Function
End Class

This example simply looks at the methods in an assembly and writes them to XmlElements. I'm sure theres a better way to produce the output, but you get the idea.

If you were just looking for the publicly exposed properties

Export object properties and attributes to XML

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