C#-XMLSerialize a Struct with Vector3 Array in it

Questions & Answers
1

I am rather new to serialization and have it working for some sections but I am running in to an issue.

The first struct:

public struct RecordPt
{
    float xP;
    float yP;

    public RecordPt(float x, float y){
        xP = x;
        yP = y;
    }
}

Works just fine in my serialize code:

public void WriteToXML (string path1,string path2)
{
    //Serialize and write first list of RecordPt to xml
	XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer (typeof(List<RecordPt>));
	FileStream stream = new FileStream (path, FileMode.Create);
	serializer.Serialize (stream, recordingPoints);
	stream.Close ();
		
    //Serialize and write second list of LineSeg to xml
	XmlSerializer lineSer = new XmlSerializer (typeof(List<LineSeg>));
	FileStream lineStream = new FileStream (path2, FileMode.Create);
	serializer.Serialize (lineStream, recordingLines);
	lineStream.Close ();

}

The second struct has a Vector3 Array that seems to be causing the issue.

	public struct LineSeg
	{
		
		public Vector3[] pts;
		public int lnColor;
		public float timeP;
		
		public LineSeg (Vector3[] ptAr, int color, float time)
		{
			pts = ptAr;
			lnColor = color;
			timeP = time;
		}
		
	}

The error I am getting is:

InvalidOperationException: The type of the argument object ‘System.Collections.Generic.List`1[[RecordMovement.SerLines, Assembly-CSharp, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null]]’ is not primitive.

Thanks in advance!

~Justin

2

Vector3 is not a primitive and not marked as Serializable. You can wrap it yourself and still provide access to the underlying object (note that I’m using doubles because of the JSON serializer that I use, but that’s negligible):

[Serializable]
public class SerializableVector3
{
	public double X;
	public double Y;
	public double Z;
	
	public Vector3 Vector3
	{
		get
		{
			return new Vector3((float)X, (float)Y, (float)Z);	
		}
	}
	
	public SerializableVector3() { }
	public SerializableVector3(Vector3 vector) 
	{
		double val;
		X = double.TryParse(vector.x.ToString(), out val) ? val : 0.0;
		Y = double.TryParse(vector.y.ToString(), out val) ? val : 0.0;
		Z = double.TryParse(vector.z.ToString(), out val) ? val : 0.0;
	}		
}

I would advise against using an array, but rather a List of Vector3: see why here. Also, you should wrap your streams in using statements to clean up disposable objects.

3

Im trying to serilize a list of vector 3’s using your class SerializableVector3

and saving like this:

if(_colliderPos.Count!=0){
//loop through every position in the list
for (int i=0; i<_colliderPos.Count;i++){
//create a container for the class SerilizableVector3 and pass collider positiotion to its constructor
SerializableVector3 data=new SerializableVector3(_colliderPos*);*

  •   		//Write to the file using the data we just sent to the class SerilizableVector3*

  •   		bf.Serialize(file,data);//write that container to the file*

  •   	}*

  •   }*

but its only saving the first part of the list?
what am i doing wrong
p.s. im using binary not XML