C# tutorial - serialize objects to a file

Serialization contains classes for serializing and deserializing XML. You apply attributes to classes and class members to control the way the XmlSerializer serializes or deserializes an instance of the class.

Apply the SerializableAttribute attribute to a type to indicate that instances of the type can be serialized. An exception is thrown if you attempt to serialize but the type doesn't have the SerializableAttribute attribute. To prevent a field from being serialized, apply the NonSerializedAttribute attribute. If a field of a serializable type contains a pointer, a handle, or some other data structure that is specific to a particular environment, and the field cannot be meaningfully reconstituted in a different environment, then you may want to make it nonserializable.

If a serialized class contains references to objects of other classes that are marked SerializableAttribute , those objects will also be serialized. Basic serialization uses. NET to automatically serialize the object. The only requirement is that the class has the SerializableAttribute attribute applied. The NonSerializedAttribute can be used to keep specific fields from being serialized.

When you use basic serialization, the versioning of objects may create problems. You would use custom serialization when versioning issues are important. The process by which the object instance is converted into a data stream is called serialization and the state of the object instance is converted into data stream because it can be transported across different networks made to be persisted in a location of storage.

This serves as an advantage of serialization to transmit the converted data stream across different networks in a format compatible on cross platforms and saves the converted stream data into a medium of storage in a persistent or non-persistent object state so that the same copy can be created in the later time. Consider the code below to demonstrate custom Serialization by implementing the ISerializable interface:. IO; using System. Linq; using System.

Serialization; using System. Binary; using System. Text; using System. Serialize stream1, ob ; stream1. Now, let us see an example where we have used 'real' class with public and shared members and properties to encapsulate them. The class also uses another supporting class. This is just to make clear that if your class contains further classes, all the classes in the chain will be serialized.

Example 3 The final example shows how to serialize array of objects. View All. Serializing Objects In C. Bipin Joshi Updated date Nov 16, Here is how serialization works. Image source: Microsoft Docs. Namespaces involved Following namespaces are involved in serialization process, System. Serialization System. Binary Example 1 using System; using System. IO; using System. AddValue "Model" , this. AddValue "Owner" , this.

GetValue "FirstName" , typeof string ; this. AddValue "FirstName" , this. AddValue "LastName" , this. Now, to save the list of objects to a file, all that needs to be done is to call the Serialize and DeSerialize functions of the Serializer class. SerializeObject "outputFile. DeSerializeObject "outputFile. Cars ;. Just like any file, it is possible for your files to become corrupted. Because of this, it is probably a good idea to add some error handling whenever output from the file is being cast to an object.

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