Skip to main content

dotNET Serialization (XmlSerializer)

Serialization is the process of representing you Object in the form of text.
This is a handy way to save out your Object structure to a file.
The XML version is XmlSerializer, this creates an XML file structure of your Object. It will parse out all the public properties and save to XML.

You can make your objects Serializable by simply adding the Serializable Attribute to each of your objects, when you call Serialize on that Object it and all of it's Child and Associated Objects which also have the Serializable Atribute will also be Serialized
[Serializable]
public class BaseballPlayer
{
  [...]
}
To invoke Serialization on an Object you need a Formatter and a Stream. Or you can use XmlSerializer to perform the Serialization.
see XMLSerializer and not expected type... (codeproject)
Stream str = File.OpenWrite(filename);
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.BinaryFormatter formatter =
new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.BinaryFormatter();
formatter.Serialize(str, bp);
str.Close();
The BinaryFormatter's output is binary, so the output is illegable and compacted, to create a readable format use the SoapFormatter. There is a problem with the SoapFormatter however, it cannot handle non generic types, such as your own types of containers, it can only handle .NET types including Lists. So if your Objects contain your own types of containers you must make them serializable, How?

At runtime is XmlSerialization is requested by some process ( a webservice for example requires Objects to be Serialized, SOAP), then the Object (maybe the Type inside the assembly) will be XmlSerialized at runtime, resulting in a temporary file named .XmlSerializers.dll being created.
To create an XmlSerializer version of your file use sgen.exe, it's a Visual Studio Tool.

C:\bin\debug\Tools>"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studi
o 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin\sgen.exe" /a:Configuration.CompileProxy.dll /o:C:\server\bin
Microsoft (R) Xml Serialization support utility
[Microsoft (R) .NET Framework, Version 2.0.50727.42]
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Serialization Assembly Name: Configuration.CompileProxy.XmlSerializers, V
ersion=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null.
Generated serialization assembly for assembly C:\bin\debug\
Tools\Configuration.CompileProxy.dll --> 'C:\server\bin\Configuration.CompileProxy.XmlSerializers.dll'.

XMLSerializer (msdn)

Serialization in .NET (codeguru).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

dotNET - Debugging

Debugging with .NET MSIL assemblies Visual Studio and debugging the CLR are different, I'll talk about both. MSIL Assemblies Assemblies compiled with .NET tools such as the CLR compiler are compiled into a file which contains MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language). At runtime the contents of the assembly are loaded into the CLR and ran as machine code. When you compile an assembly in debug a PDB file is generated alongside the DLL or EXE you've just created. The link between these 2 files is that the PDB contains the line numbers of the methods and classes as well as the file names of the original source code that created the assembly. When you launch the debugger in Visual Studio the assembly is loaded into the Debugger (similar to the CLR) along with the PDB file. The debugger now uses your PDB file contents to match the running code found in the assembly to locations in source files (hopefully in your present project). CLR CLR Inside Out (msdn magazine) .NET Framework Tools:...
7 comments
Read more

Installer CustomAction, Debugging the CustomAction, InstallState

Custom Action The Custom Action is added to the Setup Project, select the Project node and hit the Custom Action button. This allows you add an Action to a particular phase in the Installation. But first you must create the Custom Action. To Add a Custom Action you must first have a Custom Action created, this is usually in the form of a Installer Class, this should be created in a seperate project, the Installer Class is actually one of the File Templates in the C# Projects. So it's File->New Project and select Visual C# Projects. Then add a Class Library, this will prompt you for the Class Library Types , select "Installer Class". Walkthrough - Creating Custom Action (msdn). Also here's a more comprehensive document on Setup/Installer implementations, it delves into the Registry etc Getting Started with Setup Projects (SimpleTalk). Visual Studio Setup Projects and Custom Actions (Simple Talk). Create your Installer Class and then add it as a Custom Action to the ...
3 comments
Read more

dotNET - Use app.config ApplicationSettings and UserSettings

When using Settings in an Assembly or .exe you can use the Settings Designer to generate a config file using Settings. The Settings Designer provides a wrapper class which allows you to provide defaults and access the config data using Properties. But what if you're not working inside that Assembly or .exe? this presents a problem. If your loading the Assembly externally and want to access that Assembly's .config file you'll probably wish to use something in the System.Configuration namespace... unfortunately it's not of much use if you've created the .config file from the Settings Designer in Visual Studio!! This is because the Designer creates Sections and ApplicationSettings and UserSettings, the System.Configuration namespace does not provide a method to access these (it has a method to access AppSettings which are a different thing. Below I've written a workaround which locates the app.config and accesses the ApplicationSettings and UserSettings using XML i...
8 comments
Read more