Skip to main content

Custom Object Serialization in .Net



Namespace: System.Runtime.Serialization

In a very complex object creation scenario we may want to implement serialization our self. To do custom serialization one must apply the serialization attributes to the class in the same way and also class must implement ISerializable interface.

Constructor to be implemented should look like:
Protected <ClassName>(SerializationInfo si, StreamingContext sc)
{
                productid = info.GetInt32(“Product ID”);
                productprice = info.GetInt32(“Price”);
productQuantity = info.GetInt32(“Quantity”);
total = productprice * productQuantity;
}

For Deserialization implement the method:

[SecurityPermissionAttribute(SecurityAction.Demand, SerializationFormatter = true)]
public virtual void GetObjectData(SerializationInfo info, StreamContext context)
{
info.AddValue(“Product ID”,productid);
                info.AddValue(“Price”,productprice);
info.AddValue(“Quantity”,productQuantity);
}

Responding to Serialization Events:
Serializing: Apply [OnSerializing] Attribute
Serialized: Apply [OnSerialized] Attribute

Deserializing: Apply [OnDeserialized] Attribute
Deserialized: Apply [OnDeserializing] Attribute

NOTE: This method is been called after IDeserializationCallback.OnDeserialization. Don’t use [OnDeserializing] attribute if Formatter other than BinarFormatter is used, in this case use OnDeserialization callback method.

Rules for Event handling:
• Method must accept StreamingContext object
• Returns void
• Proper attribute is being applied

How to change serialization based on context:
Specific Context information may be required to in order to deserialize an object. One can make those decisions himself in the GetObject method in which StreamingContext is provided. One can throw exception if the context information is not relevant.

To manipulate the Context information use the State bit and Set the status as required. These statuses are:

CrossProcessor, CrossMachine, File, Persistance, Remoting, Other, Close, CrossAppDomain, All.
One can use Context property of Formatters to alter context information before manipulation.

How to Create Custom Formatters:
                IFormatter, IGenericFormatter interface can be implemented. One can take advantage form static methods of FormatterServices class.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Culture Information and Localization in .NET

Namespace: System.Globalization CultureInfo Class:                 It provides information like the Format of numbers and dates, Culture’s Calendar, Culture’s language and sublanguage (if applicable), Country and region of the culture. The Basic use of CultureInfo class is shown here: • How string Comparisons are performed • How Number Comparison & Formats are performed • Date Comparison and Formats. • How resources are retrieved and used. Cultures are grouped into three categories: Invariant Culture : It’s Culture Insensitive. It can be used to build some trial application. It can be also used to build an application with hard-coded expiry date that ignores cultures. But using it for every comparison will be incorrect and inappropriate. Neutral Culture : English(en), Frensh(fr), and Spanish(sp). A neutral culture is related to language but it’s not related to specific regi...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Concept of App Domain in .Net

Creating Application Domains: Application domain is just like process, provides separate memory space, and isolates from other code. But it’s quite light weight. It also provides the following advantages: 1-       Reliability : If a domain crashes, it can be unloaded. Hence doesn’t affect the other assemblies. 2-       Efficiency : Loading all assemblies in one domain can be cumbersome and can make the process heavy but Appdomains are efficient in this manner. Important properties of AppDomain: ApplicationIdentity , ApplicationTrust , BaseDirectory , CurrentDomain , DomainManager , DomainDirectory , Evidence , FriendlyName , ID , RelativeSearchPath , SetupInformation , ShadowCopyFiles . Important methods of AppDomain: ApplyPolicy , CreateCOMInstanceFrom , CreateDomain , CreateInstance (Assembly). To create an AppDomain: AppDomain adomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(“D”); To execute an assembly:...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Asynchronous Execution in ASP.NET

Asynchronous Execution: Two ways either implement IHTTPAsyncHandler interface or in ASP.NET 2.0 set <%@ Page Async=”true” %>. The second option implements IHTTPAsyncHandler interface automatically for the page when parsed or compiled. AddOnPreRenderCompleteAsync ( new BeginEventHandler(BeginTask), new EndEventHandler(EndTask)); AddOnPreRenderCompleteAsync() shoud be called in Page_load. The BeginEventHandler and EndEventHandler are delegates defined as follows: IAsyncResult BeginEventHandler( object sender, EventArgs e, AsyncCallback cb, object state) void EndEventHandler( IAsyncResult ar) AsyncProcess starts and completes between PreRender and PreRenderComplete. Other way to perform Async Task is using AsyncPageTask structure. It also allows multiple tasks to execute simultaneously. void Page_Load (object sender, EventArgs e) { PageAsyncTask task = new PageAsyncTask( new BeginEventHandler(BeginTask), new EndEventH...
Continue Reading »