In Protobuf-net how can I pass an array of type object with objects of different types inside, knowing the set of potential types in advance

Question

I am trying to migrate existing code that uses XmlSerializer to protobuf-net due to the increased performance it offers, however I am having problems with this specific case

Answer 1

object is going to be problematic. I would try something more like:

[ProtoContract]
class Message
{
    private readonly List<MessageParam> parameters = new List<MessageParam>();
    [ProtoMember(1)]
    public List<MessageParam> Parameters { get { return parameters; } }
}
[ProtoContract]
[ProtoInclude(3, typeof(MessageParam<int>))]
[ProtoInclude(4, typeof(MessageParam<float>))]
[ProtoInclude(5, typeof(MessageParam<DateTime>))]
//...known types...
abstract class MessageParam {
    public abstract object UntypedValue { get; set; }
    public static MessageParam<T> Create<T>(T value) {
        return new MessageParam<T> { Value = value };
    }
    public static MessageParam CreateDynamic(object value)
    {
        Type type = value.GetType();
        switch (Type.GetTypeCode(value.GetType()))
        {
            // special cases
            case TypeCode.Int32: return Create((int)value);
            case TypeCode.Single: return Create((float)value);
            case TypeCode.DateTime: return Create((DateTime)value);
            // fallback in case we forget to add one, or it isn't a TypeCode
            default:
                MessageParam param = (MessageParam)Activator.CreateInstance(
                    typeof(MessageParam<>).MakeGenericType(type));
                param.UntypedValue = value;
                return param;
        }
    }
}
[ProtoContract]
sealed class MessageParam<T> : MessageParam
{
    [ProtoMember(1)]
    public T Value { get; set; }
    public override object UntypedValue
    {
        get { return Value; }
        set { Value = (T)value; }
    }
}

Note that the unreleased "v2" code offers much more ability to define the relationships at runtime rather than through attributes (which is quite limiting here).