[c#] What is [Serializable] and when should I use it?

Serialization

Serialization is the process of converting an object or a set of objects graph into a stream, it is a byte array in the case of binary serialization

Uses of Serialization

  1. To save the state of an object into a file, database etc. and use it latter.
  2. To send an object from one process to another (App Domain) on the same machine and also send it over wire to a process running on another machine.
  3. To create a clone of the original object as a backup while working on the main object.
  4. A set of objects can easily be copied to the system’s clipboard and then pasted into the same or another application

Below are some useful custom attributes that are used during serialization of an object

[Serializable] -> It is used when we mark an object’s serializable [NonSerialized] -> It is used when we do not want to serialize an object’s field. [OnSerializing] -> It is used when we want to perform some action while serializing an object [OnSerialized] -> It is used when we want to perform some action after serialized an object into stream.

Below is the example of serialization

[Serializable]
    internal class DemoForSerializable
    {
        internal string Fname = string.Empty;
        internal string Lname = string.Empty;

        internal Stream SerializeToMS(DemoForSerializable demo)
        {
            DemoForSerializable objSer = new DemoForSerializable();
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
            BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
            bf.Serialize(ms, objSer);
            return ms;
        }

        [OnSerializing]
        private void OnSerializing(StreamingContext context) {
            Fname = "sheo";
            Lname = "Dayal";
        }
        [OnSerialized]
        private void OnSerialized(StreamingContext context)
        {
       // Do some work after serialized object
        }

    }

Here is the calling code

class Program
    {
        string fname = string.Empty;
        string Lname = string.Empty; 

       static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            DemoForSerializable demo = new DemoForSerializable();

            Stream ms = demo.SerializeToMS(demo);
            ms.Position = 0;

            DemoForSerializable demo1 = new BinaryFormatter().Deserialize(ms) as DemoForSerializable;

            Console.WriteLine(demo1.Fname);
            Console.WriteLine(demo1.Lname);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

    }

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