How to save/restore serializable object to/from file?

Question

I have a list of objects and I need to save that somewhere in my computer. I have read some forums and I know that the object has to be Serializable. But it wou

Answer 1

You'll need to serialize to something: that is, pick binary, or xml (for default serializers) or write custom serialization code to serialize to some other text form.

Once you've picked that, your serialization will (normally) call a Stream that is writing to some kind of file.

So, with your code, if I were using XML Serialization:

var path = @"C:\Test\myserializationtest.xml";
using(FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create))
{
    XmlSerializer xSer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SomeClass));

    xSer.Serialize(fs, serializableObject);
}

Then, to deserialize:

using(FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open)) //double check that...
{
    XmlSerializer _xSer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(SomeClass));

    var myObject = _xSer.Deserialize(fs);
}

NOTE: This code hasn't been compiled, let alone run- there may be some errors. Also, this assumes completely out-of-the-box serialization/deserialization. If you need custom behavior, you'll need to do additional work.