HierarchyId serialized in an invalid format which can't be deserialized

[AndyBates6668]

Hi,

We've been using this great class for our project and it's saved us a lot of time.

We seem to have found a problem serialising it to a SQL column. We have two values that have been written which fail to deserialize both in the HierarchyId and real HierarchyId (in SQL server and the help class).

The exception thrown by the each of the HierarchyId is when attempting to deserialize is:

$exception | {"No pattern found for: 0000010110000"} | System.InvalidCastException
"No pattern found for: 000001011010110000000"

We're investigating what the hierarchy identifiers were which generated these values but all we currently have is the hierarchy identifier binary information which is: 0x61D500B0 and 0x61D500B580. We'd expect the string value to be something like '/1.-6/-2' or '/1.-6/0/' which does appear to generate the correct binary data and works with both HierarchyId and the real HierarchyId.

I'll update this thread as I find more information. The problem was created by the test team so I'm afraid I don't have much to go on at present.

Thanks

• Andy

[dotMorten]

A small testmethod the shows the problem would be awesome. If you clone the repo and add it to the test class, the test should pass for .net framework (as that runs against official libraries) and fail against .net core.

[AndyBates6668]

As I say I'm not sure what the string was that generated that binary data. The HierarchyId class obviously generated it but it fails to deserialize in both .net framework and the .net core builds. I'm doing some more digging so will report what I turn up. Is it possible to decode the binary data or at least identify what the hierarchy id is (or even part of it)?

[dotMorten]

In that case we need to find what id got serialized and validate that they can deserialize again.

TBH I don't know anything about these ids. It was a community contribution and has been maintained by external devs so the more info you can find the greater chance it can get resolved

[AndyBates6668]

As I say we're using the library and the test team caused invalid serialised hierarchy identifiers to be generated and dropped into the SQL database. I'll see if I can reproduce and get the source identifiers for these or do some more digging to see how they were generated.

[ppasieka]

@AndyBates6668 fix for this issue is in #55

[AndyBates6668]

There are 2 fixes I'm interested in seeing released. This plus the GetDescendants issue. Do we know when a pre-release/release can be completed for further testing? Thanks Andy

[Torvin]

Here's a test that passes for full framework and fails in .net core:

public void TestWrongSerialization()
{
    var h = SqlHierarchyId.Parse("/3.1/");
    var ms = new MemoryStream();
    h.Write(new BinaryWriter(ms));
    var value = ms.ToArray();
    CollectionAssert.AreEqual(value, new byte[] { 0x81, 0x60 });
}

Looks like it's fixed in #55

[AndyBates6668]

What is the process for the PRs for resolving issues 46 and this issue to be completed? We're using the code and seeing this issue more frequently so would like to get the fixes in place. Many thanks Andy

[dotMorten]

The process is to download the source code and build it yourself - at least until I don't feel burnt out and again have the energy to dig into these PRs, test them, and release a new version.

[Torvin]

@dotMorten thank you for your hard work. If it helps, I did exactly that - downloaded the code from PR #55 branch and using it in production right now and everything is working fine so far

[dotMorten]

Try v1.3.0 that have the #55 code.