Serialize a Static Class?

Question

What happens if we serialize a static class? Can more than one instance of the static class be created if we serialize it?

[Serializable]
public static class         


        

Answer 1

You may create the following class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;

namespace SerializeStatic_NET
{
    public class SerializeStatic
    {
        public static bool Save(Type static_class, string filename)
        {
            try
            {
                FieldInfo[] fields = static_class.GetFields(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public);
                object[,] a = new object[fields.Length,2];
                int i = 0;
                foreach (FieldInfo field in fields)
                {
                    a[i, 0] = field.Name;
                    a[i, 1] = field.GetValue(null);
                    i++;
                };
                Stream f = File.Open(filename, FileMode.Create);
                SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();                
                formatter.Serialize(f, a);
                f.Close();
                return true;
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
        }

        public static bool Load(Type static_class, string filename)
        {
            try
            {
                FieldInfo[] fields = static_class.GetFields(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public);                
                object[,] a;
                Stream f = File.Open(filename, FileMode.Open);
                SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();
                a = formatter.Deserialize(f) as object[,];
                f.Close();
                if (a.GetLength(0) != fields.Length) return false;
                int i = 0;
                foreach (FieldInfo field in fields)
                {
                    if (field.Name == (a[i, 0] as string))
                    {
                        field.SetValue(null, a[i,1]);
                    }
                    i++;
                };                
                return true;
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
}

You must define a reference to System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.

Say, in your program you want to save the following static class:

public static class A
{
    public static string s;
    public static int i;
    public static double z;
}

You may use the following code:

bool ok = SerializeStatic.Save(typeof(A), "c:\\tests\\a.dat");

If you want to load the saved data (in the same program or in another program), use the following code:

bool ok2 = SerializeStatic.Load(typeof(A), "c:\\tests\\a.dat");

The fields A.s, A.i, A.z will get the new, loaded values.