[QUERY] How to serialize `ResourceType` when using `ArmResourcesModelFactory`.

[levimatheri]

Library name and version

Azure.ResourceManager.Resources 1.7.1

Query/Question

I am utilizing ArmResourcesModelFactory to create mock objects for my unit tests like so:

Properties = ArmResourcesModelFactory.ArmDeploymentOperationProperties(
    ...
    targetResource: ArmResourcesModelFactory.TargetResource(
        id: "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/Test/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/compute-1",
        resourceName: "compute-1",
        resourceType: "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets"))

However the resourceType property is actually a struct with an implicit operator that converts a string into a ResourceType.
I have some code path that tests whether a raw string representation of the deployment operation is handled correctly. To do that, I need to serialize the object created above using the ArmResourcesModelFactory, but doing that ends up with something like this:

"properties": {
            "targetResource": {
                "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/Test/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/compute-1",
                "resourceName": "FTTestService-WUS",
                "resourceType": {
                     "type": "virtualMachineScaleSets",
                     "namespace": "Microsoft.Compute"
                 }
            }
        }

What I would like is to serialize it into this:

"properties": {
            "targetResource": {
                "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/Test/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/compute-1",
                "resourceName": "FTTestService-WUS",
                "resourceType": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets"
            }
        }

An alternative I've considered is writing a custom ResourceTypeConverter to do this, but it's not as clean, and I wondered if there was a better way to do this.

Environment

dotnet SDK version: 8.0.404
VS 2022 version: 17.14

[github-actions]

Hi @levimatheri, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the Azure SDK team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

• The current design of the ARM Resource Manager models serializes ResourceType as an object (with separate namespace and type properties) to mirror the ARM service contract.
• There isn’t a built‑in option or configuration to have it serialize directly as a single string.
• As the SDK’s model factory outputs the object structure that the service expects, using a custom ResourceType converter remains the available workaround for your unit test scenario.
• For more details on model serialization and recommended practices when working with these models, see Enable the new model serialization by using the System.ClientModel and the ResourceType notes in the Azure.Core changelog.

The Azure SDK team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!