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System.Runtime.Serialization.XsdDataContractExporter class

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This article provides supplementary remarks to the reference documentation for this API.

Use the XsdDataContractExporter class when you have created a Web service that incorporates data represented by common language runtime (CLR) types and when you need to export XML schemas for each type to be consumed by other Web services. That is, XsdDataContractExporter transforms a set of CLR types into XML schemas. (For more information about the types that can be used, see Types Supported by the Data Contract Serializer.) The schemas can then be exposed through a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) document for use by others who need to interoperate with your service.

Conversely, if you are creating a Web service that must interoperate with an existing Web service, use the XsdDataContractImporter to transform XML schemas and create the CLR types that represent the data in a selected programming language.

The XsdDataContractExporter generates an XmlSchemaSet object that contains the collection of schemas. Access the set of schemas through the Schemas() property.

Note

To quickly generate XML schema definition (XSD) files that other Web services can consume, use the XsdDataContractExporter.

Export schemas into an XmlSchemaSet

To create an instance of the XmlSchemaSet class that contains XML schema files, you should be aware of the following.

The set of types you are exporting are recorded as an internal set of data contracts. Thus, you can call the CanExport method multiple times to add new types to the schema set without degrading performance because only the new types will be added to the set. During the Export operation, the existing schemas are compared to the new schemas being added. If there are conflicts, an exception will be thrown. A conflict is usually detected if two types with the same data contract name but different contracts (different members) are exported by the same XsdDataContractExporter instance.

Use the exporter

A recommended way of using this class is as follows:

  1. Use one of the CanExport overloads to determine whether the specified type or set of types can be exported. Use one of the overloads that is appropriate to your requirements.

  2. Call the corresponding Export method.

  3. Retrieve the schemas from the Schemas property.