Does C# have native serialization?

Question

In PHP there is a language proper data serialization feature. I mean: I’m not talking about using JSON or XML, but I speak of a serialization in a format that is proper to the language.

For example, if I want to serialize a array or a objeto, I can do that easily.

serialize(['a' => 1, 'b' => 2])

The result will be:

'a:2:{s:1:"a";i:1;s:1:"b";i:2;}'

If I want to deserialize this data, I can invoke the function unserialize to convert this data to a valid PHP value.

Behold:

unserialize('a:2:{s:1:"a";i:1;s:1:"b";i:2;}')

The result will be:

[
  "a" => 1,
  "b" => 2,
]

In conclusion, this is a specific format, where the language itself will understand which data needs to be converted.

In C# is there something similar? Is there some form of native data serialization of the language?

Note: Just to reinforce: I’m not talking about JSON or XML, but in a native way, as demonstrated in the PHP example.

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible, the . NET provides this possibility through reflection. But don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything too much, just say what you want to be serializable. Just use the attribute Serializable that the framework know what to do. And if you need some members not to participate in the serialization you can use NonSerializable.

Serialization can be obtained in different formats depending on the need, either text or binary (example) which is considered more or less obsolete, due to the difficulties it imposes. It needs some format. If you want to know if there is a format invented by . NET, binary only, in general JSON is used for text.

Obviously some cases need something more customized and the default serialization does not work. Here the solution is to implement the interface ISerializable with the logic that is best suited to what you need.

You don’t always have to ask to serialize or deserialize, the framework used can take care of it for you in cases he knows it is what he needs. Obviously he will not do it in non-serializable types.

There are some external libraries that are more performative and many people give preference to the native. One of them is the Newtonsoft Json.NET, the most used nowadays (which is used by some frameworks). Another is the protobuf.NET created by an SE employee. But now . NET has a form officer better than all the others at least at some points.

Documentation. And new mechanism.

I do not know deeply the serialization of PHP, but should work very similarly.

Answer 2

The net dot natively has the BinaryFormatter, Serialization is until fast, but if your object is a very large and complex graph, the deserialization can be slow. For production use usually third party libraries are used.

As already said, just mark the class (and the classes contained) with [Serializable].

/*
    Importe:
    using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
*/

SeuObjeto objeto = new SeuObjeto(); // Pode ser qualquer tipo serializavel

BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();

MemoryStream data = new MemoryStream();

// Para serializar:
formatter.Serialize(data, objeto);

data.Position = 0;

// Para deserializar
objeto = (SeuObjeto)formatter.Deserialize(data);

If you want to delete something from serialization check with [NonSerialized]

Another detail, the Binary Formatter uses layout little endian, You don’t have to worry about that.

Answer 3

Microsoft has adopted Newtonsoft.NET, a third-party package adopted as Official, as the guy responsible for making serializations within the environment . NET.

Its use is extremely simple, just first install the package Json.NET in your project via Nuget Packager Manager or via Packager Manager Console:

PM> Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json

Then to serialize:

Product product = new Product();
product.Name = "Apple";
product.Expiry = new DateTime(2008, 12, 28);
product.Sizes = new string[] { "Small" };

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(product);
// {
//   "Name": "Apple",
//   "Expiry": "2008-12-28T00:00:00",
//   "Sizes": [
//     "Small"
//   ]
// }

To deserialize:

string json = @"{
  'Name': 'Bad Boys',
  'ReleaseDate': '1995-4-7T00:00:00',
  'Genres': [
    'Action',
    'Comedy'
  ]
}";

Movie m = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Movie>(json);

string name = m.Name;
// Bad Boys

Or using LINQ:

JArray array = new JArray();
array.Add("Manual text");
array.Add(new DateTime(2000, 5, 23));

JObject o = new JObject();
o["MyArray"] = array;

string json = o.ToString();
// {
//   "MyArray": [
//     "Manual text",
//     "2000-05-23T00:00:00"
//   ]
// }

For more information, see the official Json.NET.