Using serializable values

At some point you may need to store objects in the database that are either impossible to map using NHibernate (the object may be of a type you have no control over) or the resulting relational model would simply be too complex. As long as the objects are of a type that is serializable (using BinaryFormatter), NHibernate can save and retrieve them transparently.

In this recipe we'll show a crude NHibernate based error log, which stores raised Exceptions, complete with any nested InnerExceptions.

Getting ready

Complete the Getting ready instructions at the beginning of this chapter.

How to do it…

1. Add a new folder named SerializableValues to the MappingRecipes project.

2. Add a new class named Error to the folder:

   public class Error
   {
     public virtual Guid Id { get; set; }
     public virtual DateTime ErrorDateTime { get; set; }
     public virtual Exception Exception { get; set; }
   }

3. Add an embedded mapping named Error.hbm.xml to the folder:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"...