Create Xml to string serializer

Question

I don't want to serialize everything. I created a custom attribute DoNotSerializeAttribute. If some property in info contain that attribute then ignore it and do not serialize it.

Is my code bug-free? Maybe I can improve it or I miss something?

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var s = Serialize(new BackgroundJobInfo {Text = "toto", BackgroundJob = new BackgroundJob { Password = "pass"}});
        var myJob = Deserialize(s);
    }

    public static string Serialize(BackgroundJobInfo info)
    {
        using (var stringWriter = new StringWriter(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))
        {
            var writer = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter);
            var dataContractSerializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(BackgroundJobInfo),
                                                                    null,
                                                                    int.MaxValue,
                                                                    true,
                                                                    true,
                                                                    new MySurrogate());
            dataContractSerializer.WriteObject(writer, info);
            writer.Flush();

            return stringWriter.ToString();
        }
    }

    public static BackgroundJobInfo Deserialize(string info)
    {
        using (var stringReader = new StringReader(info))
        {
            try
            {
                var xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader);
                var dataContractSerializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(BackgroundJobInfo));
                return (BackgroundJobInfo) dataContractSerializer.ReadObject(xmlReader);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                // hopefully, will never happen
                return null;
            }
        }
    }
}


internal class MySurrogate : IDataContractSurrogate
{
    public Type GetDataContractType(Type type)
    {
        return typeof (BackgroundJobInfo);
    }

    public object GetObjectToSerialize(object obj, Type targetType)
    {
        var maskedProperties = obj.GetType().GetProperties();
        var b = maskedProperties.Where(m => m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DataMemberAttribute), true).Any() &&
                                            m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DoNotSerializeAttribute), true).Any());
        foreach (var member in b)
        {
            member.SetValue(obj, null, null);
        }
        return obj;
    }


internal class DoNotSerializeAttribute : Attribute
{
}

[KnownType(typeof(BackgroundJob))]
[DataContract]
public class BackgroundJobInfo
{
    [DataMember(Name = "text")]
    public string Text { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "backgroundJob")]
    public BackgroundJob BackgroundJob { get; set; }
}

[DataContract]
public class BackgroundJob
{
    [DataMember(Name = "password")]
    [DoNotSerializeAttribute]
    public string Password { get; set; }
}

Answer 1

• Although you are using the using statement with StringReader and StringWriter both the XmlReader and XmlWriter are implementing IDisposable as well, so the usage of it should be enclosed in a using statement too.

• Catching an exception without doing anything with it is usually bad practice. You should at least log the exception.

• Although you have named your variables and methods well, I am a little bit concerned about the info parameter because it isn't telling anything about what it is.