Serializing Objects In C#

In the C#, Serialization is the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes to store the object or transmit it to a memory file or database such as XML or binary format.

In the c# programming language reverse process of serialization is called deserialization. In simple words serialization in C# programming language is a process of storing the object instance to a persistent storage

C# SerializableAttribute

To serialize the object, we need to apply SerializableAttribute attribute to the type. If you don't apply SerializableAttribute attribute to the type, SerializationException exception is thrown at runtime.

C# Serialization example

using System;  
using System.IO;  
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;  
[Serializable]  
public class Student 
{  
   int rollNumber;
   string fullName;
    public Student(int rollNumber, string fullName)  
    {  
        this.rollNumber= rollNumber; 
        this.fullName= fullName;  
    }  
}  

public class SerializeExample  
{  
    public static void Main(string[] args)  
    {  
        FileStream stream = new FileStream("D:\\test.txt",FileMode.OpenOrCreate); 
        BinaryFormatter formatter=new BinaryFormatter(); 
        Student objStudent= new Student(2, "Sylvia");  
        formatter.Serialize(stream,objStudent); 
        stream.Close();  
    }  
}