Guid properties and XAML serialization in Silverlight

Today I found that the XAML parser of Silverlight can’t handle Guids. You need to set a type converter to handle them! In WPF Guid properties are handled automatically.

To get it working you need to add this converter to your project:

   1: public class GuidConverter : TypeConverter

   2: {

   3:     public override bool CanConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, Type sourceType)

   4:     {

   5:         if (sourceType == typeof(string))

   6:         {

   7:             return true;

   8:         }

   9:  

  10:         return base.CanConvertFrom(context, sourceType);

  11:     }

  12:  

  13:     public override bool CanConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, Type destinationType)

  14:     {

  15:         if (destinationType == typeof(Guid))

  16:         {

  17:             return true;

  18:         }

  19:  

  20:         return base.CanConvertTo(context, destinationType);

  21:     }

  22:  

  23:     public override object ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, object value)

  24:     {

  25:         return new Guid((string)value);

  26:     }

  27:  

  28:     public override object ConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, object value, Type destinationType)

  29:     {

  30:         return ((Guid)value).ToString();

  31:     }

  32: }

And them place this on top of the Guid property:

   1: [TypeConverter(typeof(GuidConverter))]

   2: public new Guid SystemId

   3: {

   4:     get;

   5:     set;

   6: }

Works on my machine!

Have fun,

Pedro