[Sample of Mar 24th] XML Serialization

 

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C# version:
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/CSXmlSerialization-6150d4bf
VB version: https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/VBXmlSerialization-5492ab29

Today’s code sample demonstrates how to serialize an in-memory object to a local xml file and how to deserialize the xml file back to an in-memory object using VC# and VB.NET.

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Introduction

This sample shows how to serialize an in-memory object to a local xml file and how to deserialize the xml file back to an in-memory object using VC# and VB.NET. The designed MySerializableType includes int, string, generic, as well as customized type field and property.

 

Using the Code

1. We define a MySerializableType whose instance will be serialized to xml file. The MySerializableType includes int, string, bool, generic List and a customized type field/property. Mark the type as [Serializable()].

2. We define a AnotherType which is used for MySerializableType's inner customized type. Mark the type as [Serializable()].

3. In the main method, the codes firstly create and initialize an object of MySerializableType.

4. Then it creates a XmlSerializer and StreamWriter to serialize the instance to local driver as XML file.

The generated xml file in step4 looks like:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>  
- <MySerializableType xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"  
    xmlns:xsd="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> 
 <StringValue>Test String</StringValue>  
 <BoolValue>true</BoolValue>  
 <IntValue>1</IntValue>  
- <AnotherTypeValue> 
 <StringValue>Inner Test String</StringValue>  
 <IntValue>2</IntValue>  
 </AnotherTypeValue> 
- <ListValue> 
 <string>List Item 1</string>  
 <string>List Item 2</string>  
 <string>List Item 3</string>  
 </ListValue> 
 </MySerializableType> 

5. Then it creates a StreamReader to read and deserialize the xml file back to object instance.

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More Information

MSDN: XMLSerializer