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Persisting Custom Objects

You do not need to implement custom persistence for the custom objects that you create as long as their properties use only simple data types such as integer and string. The default implementation of persistence saves the metadata for your object along with the values of all its properties.

However, if your object has properties that use complex data types, or if you want to perform custom processing on property values as they are loaded and saved, you can implement the IDTSComponentPersist interface and its LoadFromXML and SaveToXML methods. In these methods you load from (or save to) the XML definition of the package an XML fragment that contains the properties of your object and their current values. The format of this XML fragment is not defined; it must only be well-formed XML.

Important

When you implement custom persistence, you must persist all the properties of the object, including both inherited properties and custom properties that you have added.

Example

Although the Sql Server Custom Connection Manager sample on Codeplex does not require custom persistence for its three properties of type string, the following code shows an example of the custom code that would be required to persist the connection manager and its properties. The class that contains this code must implement the IDTSComponentPersist interface.

  Private Const PERSIST_ELEMENT As String = "SqlConnectionManager"
  Private Const PERSIST_SERVER As String = "Server"
  Private Const PERSIST_DATABASE As String = "Database"
  Private Const PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING As String = "ConnectionString"

  Public Sub LoadFromXML(ByVal node As System.Xml.XmlElement, _
    ByVal infoEvents As Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSInfoEvents) _
    Implements Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSComponentPersist.LoadFromXML

    Dim propertyNode As XmlNode

    ' Make sure that the correct node is being loaded.
    If node.Name <> PERSIST_ELEMENT Then
      Throw New Exception("Persisted element is not of type " & PERSIST_ELEMENT)
    End If

    ' Load the three properties of the object from XML into variables.
    For Each propertyNode In node.ChildNodes
      Select Case propertyNode.Name
        Case PERSIST_SERVER
          _serverName = propertyNode.InnerText
        Case PERSIST_DATABASE
          _databaseName = propertyNode.InnerText
        Case PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING
          _connectionString = propertyNode.InnerText
      End Select
    Next

  End Sub

  Public Sub SaveToXML(ByVal doc As System.Xml.XmlDocument, _
    ByVal infoEvents As Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSInfoEvents) _
    Implements Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSComponentPersist.SaveToXML

    Dim elementRoot As XmlElement
    Dim propertyNode As XmlNode

    ' Create a new node to persist the object and its properties.
    elementRoot = doc.CreateElement(String.Empty, PERSIST_ELEMENT, String.Empty)

    ' Save the three properties of the object from variables into XML.
    propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_SERVER, String.Empty)
    propertyNode.InnerText = _serverName
    elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode)

    propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_DATABASE, String.Empty)
    propertyNode.InnerText = _databaseName
    elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode)

    propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING, String.Empty)
    propertyNode.InnerText = _connectionString
    elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode)

    doc.AppendChild(elementRoot)

  End Sub

    private const string PERSIST_ELEMENT = "SqlConnectionManager";
    private const string PERSIST_SERVER = "Server";
    private const string PERSIST_DATABASE = "Database";
    private const string PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING = "ConnectionString";

    public void LoadFromXML(System.Xml.XmlElement node,
      Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSInfoEvents infoEvents)
    {

      // Make sure that the correct node is being loaded.
      if (node.Name != PERSIST_ELEMENT)
      {
        throw new Exception("Persisted element is not of type " + PERSIST_ELEMENT);
      }

      // Save the three properties of the object from variables into XML.
      foreach (XmlNode propertyNode in node.ChildNodes)
      {
        switch (propertyNode.Name)
        {
          case PERSIST_SERVER:
            _serverName = propertyNode.InnerText;
            break;
          case PERSIST_DATABASE:
            _databaseName = propertyNode.InnerText;
            break;
          case PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING:
            _connectionString = propertyNode.InnerText;
            break;
        }
      }

    }

    public void SaveToXML(System.Xml.XmlDocument doc,
      Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.IDTSInfoEvents infoEvents)
    {

      XmlElement elementRoot;
      XmlNode propertyNode;

      // Create a new node to persist the object and its properties.
      elementRoot = doc.CreateElement(String.Empty, PERSIST_ELEMENT, String.Empty);

      // Save the three properties of the object from variables into XML.
      propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_SERVER, String.Empty);
      propertyNode.InnerText = _serverName;
      elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode);

      propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_DATABASE, String.Empty);
      propertyNode.InnerText = _databaseName;
      elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode);

      propertyNode = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, PERSIST_CONNECTIONSTRING, String.Empty);
      propertyNode.InnerText = _connectionString;
      elementRoot.AppendChild(propertyNode);

      doc.AppendChild(elementRoot);

    }
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