title: Maintain .NET Serialized data compatability when moving classes
body: <p>I have data that's been serialized.  The classes associated with the serialized data is part of a large legacy project which has a number of 3rd party references which are not needed for this core set of data.  Now I have a need to read this data into another application.  I'd like to refactor out the data classes into a separate project which can be shared between the 2 application so I don't end up needing all the 3rd party libraries.  I also want to maintain compatibility with data that's been previously saved.  I don't need to change any fields in the classes, just the project where they are located.</p>
  
  <p>So far, I've moved the classes to a new project.  I've kept the namespaces the same as they were in the old project.  But, this hasn't been sufficient to read the objects.  I get a SerializationException stating "Parse Error, no type associated with Xml key a1 MyCorp.MyApp.DatabaseRoot MyCorp.MyApp".  Looking at the SOAP generated XML, the schemas referenced have changed.  For example, I have a class <strong>MyCorp.Dashboard.DatabaseRoot</strong> originally in project <strong>DashboardLibrary</strong>.  This was moved to project <strong>DashboardData</strong> (but still using namespace <strong>MyCorp.Dashboard.DatabaseRoot</strong>).  The XML changed in this way:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Orig: &lt;a1:DatabaseRoot id="ref-1" xmlns:a1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/clr/nsassem/MyCorp.Dashboard/MyCorp.Dashboard"&gt;
  New:  &lt;a1:DatabaseRoot id="ref-1" xmlns:a1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/clr/nsassem/MyCorp.Dashboard/DashboardData"&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, my questions are</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Is it possible to move classes and keep compatibility?  I appear close to pulling it off.</li>
  <li>If so, how do I control the last bit schema information (MyCorp.Dashboard vs. DashboardData).  The original seems based on directory location while the second is project name.  I've tried changing the directory structure in the new project, but have had no luck.  Anything else I'm missing?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>