WCF deserialization of type object Properties - wcf

Question

I am having trouble achieving the following scenario.
We currently have a method which expects a list of 'context' key value pairs. The value however can be of any type.
the goal is to make this method available using WCF. So I created a
public List<Element> Transform(List<Element> elements)
{
... Transformation of elements takes place
}
[DataContract(Namespace = Constants.NAMESPACE)]
public struct Element
{
[DataMember(Order = 0, IsRequired = true)]
public string Key;
[DataMember(Order = 1, IsRequired = true)]
public object Value;
}
When I use a .Net test project everything works fine.
However, when I call this service using SOAP UI I get an error message:
The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the
message: There was an error while trying to deserialize parameter
elements. The InnerException message was 'Element Value cannot have
child contents to be deserialized as an object. Please use XmlNode[]
to deserialize this pattern of XML.'.
I am having trouble figuring out what to do. any help appreciated.
the xml i use is this:
<ws:Transform>
<ws:elements>
<ws:Element>
<ws:Key>Key1</ws:Key>
<ws:Value>A</ws:Value>
</ws:Element>
<ws:Element>
<ws:Key>Key2</ws:Key>
<ws:Value>B</ws:Value>
</ws:Element>
<ws:ScriptName>SetVariable</ws:ScriptName>
</ws:elements>
</ws:Transform>

Answer 1

In this case, SoapUI uses .Net technology which does not understand target type for object.
sending object is not valid across all platforms. In fact you might get an error with a .Net client as well. Your best bet is create a generic xml representation of the Value and have all clients inflate the object from the xml