FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseObject<TContext> makes its dictionary checks in (what appears to be) the wrong order

[airbreather]

Shorter description: .EnsureRoundTrip() serializers fail to handle Dictionary<TKey, TValue> properties nested in other objects, because the check for IDictionary happens first and assigns the static type of object for both the key and value, before the check for IDictionary<TKey, TValue> that would assign the static types of TKey and TValue.

Longer description, with more specifics for why this happens, a minimal repro, and a workaround:

---

This bit here traverses an object that implements IDictionary<TKey, TValue>:

YamlDotNet/YamlDotNet/Serialization/ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies/FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.cs

Lines 176 to 183 in 665b182

	var genericDictionaryType = ReflectionUtility.GetImplementedGenericInterface(value.Type, typeof(IDictionary<,>));
	if (genericDictionaryType != null)
	{
	var genericArguments = genericDictionaryType.GetGenericArguments();
	var adaptedDictionary = Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(GenericDictionaryToNonGenericAdapter<,>).MakeGenericType(genericArguments), value.Value)!;
	TraverseDictionary(new ObjectDescriptor(adaptedDictionary, value.Type, value.StaticType, value.ScalarStyle), visitor, genericArguments[0], genericArguments[1], context, path);
	return;
	}

And this bit here traverses an object that implements the non-generic IDictionary:

YamlDotNet/YamlDotNet/Serialization/ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies/FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.cs

Lines 170 to 174 in 665b182

	if (typeof(IDictionary).IsAssignableFrom(value.Type))
	{
	TraverseDictionary(value, visitor, typeof(object), typeof(object), context, path);
	return;
	}

Which looks like a fantastic idea to me... except that it actually checks the non-generic IDictionary first, and so it thinks that the key and value types for a Dictionary<TKey, TValue> are statically object instead of what they actually are, which causes problems for a .EnsureRoundTrip() serializer.

Here's a full repro, with a workaround below.

ConsoleApp0.csproj

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="YamlDotNet" Version="11.2.1" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

Program.cs

using YamlDotNet.Serialization;

var serializer = new SerializerBuilder()
    .EnsureRoundtrip()
    .Build();

using StringWriter stringWriter = new();
serializer.Serialize(stringWriter, new MyOuterThing(), typeof(MyOuterThing));
Console.WriteLine(stringWriter);

public sealed class MyOuterThing
{
    public Dictionary<int, Payload> Lookups { get; set; } = new() { [1] = new() { I = 1 } };
}

public sealed class Payload
{
    public int I { get; set; }
}

Expected: should work
Actual: doesn't, exception:

YamlDotNet.Core.YamlException: (Line: 1, Col: 1, Idx: 0) - (Line: 1, Col: 1, Idx: 0): Cannot serialize type 'Payload' where a 'System.Object' was expected because no tag mapping has been registered for 'Payload', which means that it won't be possible to deserialize the document.
Register a tag mapping using the SerializerBuilder.WithTagMapping method.

E.g: builder.WithTagMapping("!Payload", typeof(Payload));
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.EventEmitters.TypeAssigningEventEmitter.AssignTypeIfNeeded(ObjectEventInfo eventInfo)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.EventEmitters.TypeAssigningEventEmitter.Emit(MappingStartEventInfo eventInfo, IEmitter emitter)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphVisitors.AnchorAssigningObjectGraphVisitor.VisitMappingStart(IObjectDescriptor mapping, Type keyType, Type valueType, IEmitter context)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphVisitors.ChainedObjectGraphVisitor.VisitMappingStart(IObjectDescriptor mapping, Type keyType, Type valueType, IEmitter context)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseProperties[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.RoundtripObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseProperties[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseObject[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.Traverse[TContext](Object name, IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseDictionary[TContext](IObjectDescriptor dictionary, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, Type keyType, Type valueType, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseObject[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.Traverse[TContext](Object name, IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseProperties[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.RoundtripObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseProperties[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.TraverseObject[TContext](IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.Traverse[TContext](Object name, IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context, Stack`1 path)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies.FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.YamlDotNet.Serialization.IObjectGraphTraversalStrategy.Traverse[TContext](IObjectDescriptor graph, IObjectGraphVisitor`1 visitor, TContext context)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.SerializerBuilder.ValueSerializer.SerializeValue(IEmitter emitter, Object value, Type type)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.Serializer.EmitDocument(IEmitter emitter, Object graph, Type type)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.Serializer.Serialize(IEmitter emitter, Object graph, Type type)
   at YamlDotNet.Serialization.Serializer.Serialize(TextWriter writer, Object graph, Type type)
   at Program.<Main>$(String[] args) in C:\REDACTED\Program.cs:line 8

I'm able to work around it by using a subclass that does the generic type check first before falling back to the base, which looks like this:

Program.cs

using YamlDotNet.Serialization;
using YamlDotNet.Serialization.NamingConventions;
using YamlDotNet.Serialization.ObjectGraphTraversalStrategies;

var serializer = new SerializerBuilder()
    .EnsureRoundtrip()
    .WithObjectGraphTraversalStrategyFactory((typeInspector, typeResolver, typeConverters, maximumRecursion) => new CustomFullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy(typeInspector, typeResolver, maximumRecursion, CamelCaseNamingConvention.Instance))
    .Build();

using StringWriter stringWriter = new();
serializer.Serialize(stringWriter, new MyOuterThing(), typeof(MyOuterThing));
Console.WriteLine(stringWriter);

public sealed class MyOuterThing
{
    public Dictionary<int, Payload> Lookups { get; set; } = new() { [1] = new() { I = 1 } };
}

public sealed class Payload
{
    public int I { get; set; }
}

public sealed class CustomFullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy : FullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy
{
    public CustomFullObjectGraphTraversalStrategy(ITypeInspector typeDescriptor, ITypeResolver typeResolver, int maxRecursion, INamingConvention namingConvention)
        : base(typeDescriptor, typeResolver, maxRecursion, namingConvention)
    {
    }

    protected override void TraverseObject<TContext>(IObjectDescriptor value, IObjectGraphVisitor<TContext> visitor, TContext context, Stack<ObjectPathSegment> path)
    {
        if (value.Type.IsGenericType && value.Type.GetInterfaces().Any(i => i.IsGenericType && i.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IDictionary<,>)))
        {
            var genericArguments = value.Type.GetGenericArguments();
            TraverseDictionary(new ObjectDescriptor(value.Value, value.Type, value.StaticType, value.ScalarStyle), visitor, genericArguments[0], genericArguments[1], context, path);
        }
        else
        {
            base.TraverseObject(value, visitor, context, path);
        }
    }
}

[aaubry]

A fix for this issue has been released in version 15.1.4.