Serialize a Bitmap in C#/.NET to XML

Question

I want to XML-Serialize a complex type (class), that has a property of type System.Drawing.Bitmap among others.

    /// <         


        

Answer 1

You can also to implement ISerializable and to use SerializationInfo to deal manually with your bitmap content.

EDIT: João is right: Correct way to deal with XML serialization is to implement IXmlSerializable, not ISerializable:

public class MyImage : IXmlSerializable
{
    public string Name  { get; set; }
    public Bitmap Image { get; set; }

    public System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema GetSchema()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer)
    {
        writer.WriteStartElement("Name");
        writer.WriteString(this.Name);
        writer.WriteEndElement();

        using(MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            this.Image.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Bmp );
            byte[] bitmapData = ms.ToArray();
            writer.WriteStartElement("Image");
            writer.WriteBase64(bitmapData, 0, bitmapData.Length);
            writer.WriteEndElement();
        }
    }
}