Is there a serializable generic Key/Value pair class in .NET?

I'm looking for a key/value pair object that I can include in a web service.

I tried using .NET's System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<> class, but it does not properly serialize in a web service. In a web service, the Key and Value properties are not serialized, making this class useless, unless someone knows a way to fix this.

Is there any other generic class that can be used for this situation?

I'd use .NET's System.Web.UI.Pair class, but it uses Object for its types. It would be nice to use a Generic class, if only for type safety.

Just define a struct/class.

[Serializable]
public struct KeyValuePair<K,V>
{
  public K Key {get;set;}
  public V Value {get;set;}
}

I don't think there is as Dictionary<> itself isn't XML serializable, when I had need to send a dictionary object via a web service I ended up wrapping the Dictionary<> object myself and adding support for IXMLSerializable.

/// <summary>
/// Represents an XML serializable collection of keys and values.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="TKey">The type of the keys in the dictionary.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TValue">The type of the values in the dictionary.</typeparam>
[XmlRoot("dictionary")]
public class SerializableDictionary<TKey, TValue> : Dictionary<TKey, TValue>, IXmlSerializable
{
    #region Constants

    /// <summary>
    /// The default XML tag name for an item.
    /// </summary>
    private const string DEFAULT_ITEM_TAG = "Item";

    /// <summary>
    /// The default XML tag name for a key.
    /// </summary>
    private const string DEFAULT_KEY_TAG = "Key";

    /// <summary>
    /// The default XML tag name for a value.
    /// </summary>
    private const string DEFAULT_VALUE_TAG = "Value";

    #endregion

    #region Protected Properties

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the XML tag name for an item.
    /// </summary>
    protected virtual string ItemTagName
    {
        get
        {
            return DEFAULT_ITEM_TAG;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the XML tag name for a key.
    /// </summary>
    protected virtual string KeyTagName
    {
        get
        {
            return DEFAULT_KEY_TAG;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the XML tag name for a value.
    /// </summary>
    protected virtual string ValueTagName
    {
        get
        {
            return DEFAULT_VALUE_TAG;
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region Public Methods

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the XML schema for the XML serialization.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>An XML schema for the serialized object.</returns>
    public XmlSchema GetSchema()
    {
        return null;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Deserializes the object from XML.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="reader">The XML representation of the object.</param>
    public void ReadXml(XmlReader reader)
    {
        XmlSerializer keySerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TKey));
        XmlSerializer valueSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TValue));

        bool wasEmpty = reader.IsEmptyElement;

        reader.Read();

        if (wasEmpty)
        {
            return;
        }

        while (reader.NodeType != XmlNodeType.EndElement)
        {
            reader.ReadStartElement(ItemTagName);

            reader.ReadStartElement(KeyTagName);
            TKey key = (TKey)keySerializer.Deserialize(reader);
            reader.ReadEndElement();

            reader.ReadStartElement(ValueTagName);
            TValue value = (TValue)valueSerializer.Deserialize(reader);
            reader.ReadEndElement();

            this.Add(key, value);

            reader.ReadEndElement();
            reader.MoveToContent();
        }

        reader.ReadEndElement();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Serializes this instance to XML.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="writer">The writer to serialize to.</param>
    public void WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
    {
        XmlSerializer keySerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TKey));
        XmlSerializer valueSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TValue));

        foreach (TKey key in this.Keys)
        {
            writer.WriteStartElement(ItemTagName);

            writer.WriteStartElement(KeyTagName);
            keySerializer.Serialize(writer, key);
            writer.WriteEndElement();

            writer.WriteStartElement(ValueTagName);
            TValue value = this[key];
            valueSerializer.Serialize(writer, value);
            writer.WriteEndElement();

            writer.WriteEndElement();
        }
    }

    #endregion
}

You will find the reason why KeyValuePairs cannot be serialised at this MSDN Blog Post

The Struct answer is the simplest solution, however not the only solution. A "better" solution is to write a Custom KeyValurPair class which is Serializable.

 [Serializable]
 public class SerializableKeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>
    {

        public SerializableKeyValuePair()
        {
        }

        public SerializableKeyValuePair(TKey key, TValue value)
        {
            Key = key;
            Value = value;
        }

        public TKey Key { get; set; }
        public TValue Value { get; set; }
        
    }

In the 4.0 Framework, there is also the addition of the Tuple family of classes that are serializable and equatable. You can use Tuple.Create(a, b) or new Tuple<T1, T2>(a, b).

A KeyedCollection is a type of dictionary that can be directly serialized to xml without any nonsense. The only issue is that you have to access values by: coll["key"].Value;

XmlSerializer doesn't work with Dictionaries. Oh, and it has problems with KeyValuePairs too

http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/314447/XmlSerializer-doesnt-work-with-Dictionaries-Oh-and

Use the DataContractSerializer since it can handle the Key Value Pair.

    public static string GetXMLStringFromDataContract(object contractEntity)
    {
        using (System.IO.MemoryStream writer = new System.IO.MemoryStream())
        {
            var dataContractSerializer = new DataContractSerializer(contractEntity.GetType());
            dataContractSerializer.WriteObject(writer, contractEntity);
            writer.Position = 0;
            var streamReader = new System.IO.StreamReader(writer);
            return streamReader.ReadToEnd();
        }
    }

DataTable is my favorite collection for (solely) wrapping data to be serialized to JSON, since it's easy to expand without the need for an extra struct & acts like a serializable replacement for Tuple<>[]

Maybe not the cleanest way, but I prefer to include & use it directly in the classes (which shall be serialized), instead of declaring a new struct

class AnyClassToBeSerialized
{
    public DataTable KeyValuePairs { get; }

    public AnyClassToBeSerialized
    {
        KeyValuePairs = new DataTable();
        KeyValuePairs.Columns.Add("Key", typeof(string));
        KeyValuePairs.Columns.Add("Value", typeof(string));
    }

    public void AddEntry(string key, string value)
    {
        DataRow row = KeyValuePairs.NewRow();
        row["Key"] = key; // "Key" & "Value" used only for example
        row["Value"] = value;
        KeyValuePairs.Rows.Add(row);
    }
}

You can use Tuple<string,object>

see this for more details on Tuple usage : Working with Tuple in C# 4.0