Use JSON instead of XML to serialize patches

DPE/DPEWebClient.cs

-using System;
+using pEp.Extensions;
+using System;
 using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http;
 

DPE/Patch.cs

-using System;
-using System.IO;
-using System.Text;
-using System.Xml;
-using System.Xml.Serialization;
+using pEp.Extensions;
+using System;
 
 namespace pEp.DPE
 {
@@ -62,54 +59,13 @@ namespace pEp.DPE
         }
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// Serializes this patch into XML format.
+        /// Deserializes a JSON string into a Patch object.
         /// </summary>
-        /// <returns>The serialized object as XML string.</returns>
-        public string Serialize()
-        {
-            XmlWriterSettings xmlWriterSettings = new XmlWriterSettings
-            {
-                //Indent = true,
-                OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
-                Encoding = Encoding.UTF8,
-                CheckCharacters = false
-            };
-
-            using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter())
-            using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter, xmlWriterSettings))
-            {
-                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Patch));
-                serializer.Serialize(writer, this, new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new[] { XmlQualifiedName.Empty }));
-                return stringWriter.ToString();
-            }
-        }
-
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Deserializes an XML string into a Patch object.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="xml">The XML to process.</param>
+        /// <param name="json">The JSON string to process.</param>
         /// <returns>The Patch object or null if an error occured.</returns>
-        public static Patch Deserialize(string xml)
+        public static Patch Deserialize(string json)
         {
-            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xml))
-            {
-                Log.Info("Deserialize: XML is empty.");
-                return null;
-            }
-
-            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Patch));
-            using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xml))
-            {
-                try
-                {
-                    return xmlSerializer.Deserialize(stringReader) as Patch;
-                }
-                catch (Exception ex)
-                {
-                    Log.Error("Deserialize: Error deserializing Patch object: " + ex.ToString());
-                    return null;
-                }
-            }
+            return json.Deserialize<Patch>();
         }
     }
 }

Extensions/TypeExtensions.cs

-using System;
-using System.IO;
-using System.Text;
-using System.Xml;
-using System.Xml.Serialization;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
 
 namespace pEp.Extensions
 {
     internal static class TypeExtensions
     {
         /// <summary>
-        /// Converts an object to its serialized XML format.
+        /// Deserializes a JSON string into a given object.
         /// </summary>
-        /// <typeparam name="T">The type of object we are operating on</typeparam>
-        /// <param name="value">The object we are operating on</param>
-        /// <returns>The XML string representation of the object</returns>
-        public static string Serialize<T>(this T value, bool indent = true) where T : class
+        /// <param name="json">The json string to process.</param>
+        /// <returns>The deserialized object or null if an error occured.</returns>
+        public static T Deserialize<T>(this string json) where T : class
         {
-            XmlWriterSettings xmlWriterSettings = new XmlWriterSettings
-            {
-                Indent = indent,
-                OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
-                CheckCharacters = false,
-                Encoding = Encoding.UTF8
-            };
-
-            using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter())
-            using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter, xmlWriterSettings))
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(json))
             {
-                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(value.GetType());
-
-                try
-                {
-                    serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, value, new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new[] { XmlQualifiedName.Empty }));
-                }
-                catch (Exception ex)
-                {
-                    Log.Error("Serialize: Error occured. " + ex.ToString());
-                    return null;
-                }
-
-                return stringWriter.ToString();
+                Log.Info("Deserialize: json is empty.");
+                return null;
             }
+
+            return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(json);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// Deserializes an XML string into a given object.
+        /// Serializes a given object into a´JSON string.
         /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="xml">The XML to process.</param>
-        /// <returns>The deserialized object or null if an error occured.</returns>
-        public static object Deserialize(Type type, string xml)
+        /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the object to serialize.</typeparam>
+        /// <param name="obj">The object to serialize.</param>
+        /// <returns>The serialized string or null if an error occured.</returns>
+        public static string Serialize<T>(this T obj)
         {
-            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xml))
-            {
-                Log.Info("Deserialize: XML is empty.");
-                return null;
-            }
-
-            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(type);
-            using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xml))
-            {
-                try
-                {
-                    return xmlSerializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
-                }
-                catch (Exception ex)
-                {
-                    Log.Error("Deserialize: Error deserializing Patch object: " + ex.ToString());
-                    return null;
-                }
-            }
+            return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);
         }
     }
 }

UI/Views/FormControlPatchView.xaml

@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@
                                   BorderBrush="Black"
                                   BorderThickness="1"
                                   Grid.Row="1"
-                                  Height="400"
-                                  Width="600"
+                                  MinHeight="400"
+                                  MinWidth="600"
                                   Margin="5,10,10,10"
                                   Document="{Binding DisplayDiff}"
                                   Visibility="{Binding IsEditable, Converter={StaticResource InvertBoolToVisibility}}"/>

pEpForOutlook.csproj

@@ -267,6 +267,9 @@
     <Reference Include="MimeKitLite, Version=2.10.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=bede1c8a46c66814, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
       <HintPath>..\packages\MimeKitLite.2.10.1\lib\net45\MimeKitLite.dll</HintPath>
     </Reference>
+    <Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json, Version=13.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
+      <HintPath>..\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.13.0.1\lib\net45\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</HintPath>
+    </Reference>
     <Reference Include="Office, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c">
       <EmbedInteropTypes>True</EmbedInteropTypes>
     </Reference>

packages.config

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 <packages>
   <package id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop" version="16.7.30328.74" targetFramework="net45" />
   <package id="MimeKitLite" version="2.10.1" targetFramework="net45" />
+  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="13.0.1" targetFramework="net45" />
   <package id="Stub.System.Data.SQLite.Core.NetFramework" version="1.0.113.3" targetFramework="net45" />
   <package id="System.Buffers" version="4.5.1" targetFramework="net45" />
   <package id="System.Data.SQLite.Core" version="1.0.113.7" targetFramework="net45" />