Deserialize part of a binary file

Question

Is it possible to deserialize part of a binary file?

Basically I have an object similar to below, which I serialize into a binary file.

public class          


        

Answer 1

How about putting the Name and Valueinto a superclass and serializing them separately?

Alternatively, you could maintain a Dictionary and serialize that into one file.

Answer 2

protobuf-net can do that, because it is not tied to the specific type; for example:

using ProtoBuf;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;

[ProtoContract]
public class MyOtherObject { }
[ProtoContract]
public class MyObject
{
    [ProtoMember(1)]
    public string Name { get; set; }
    [ProtoMember(2)]
    public int Value { get; set; }
    [ProtoMember(3)]
    public IList<MyOtherObject> Items { get; set; }
}

[ProtoContract]
public class MyObjectLite
{
    [ProtoMember(1)]
    public string Name { get; set; }
    [ProtoMember(2)]
    public int Value { get; set; }
}

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var obj = new MyObject
        {
            Name = "abc",
            Value = 123,
            Items = new List<MyOtherObject>
            {
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
            }
        };
        using (var file = File.Create("foo.bin"))
        {
            Serializer.Serialize(file, obj);
        }
        MyObjectLite lite;
        using (var file = File.OpenRead("foo.bin"))
        {
            lite= Serializer.Deserialize<MyObjectLite>(file);
        }
    }
}

But if you don't want two different types, and/or you don't want to have to add attributes - that can be done too:

using ProtoBuf.Meta;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;

public class MyOtherObject { }
public class MyObject
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Value { get; set; }
    public IList<MyOtherObject> Items { get; set; }
}
static class Program
{
    static readonly RuntimeTypeModel fatModel, liteModel;
    static Program()
    {
        // configure models
        fatModel = TypeModel.Create();
        fatModel.Add(typeof(MyOtherObject), false);
        fatModel.Add(typeof(MyObject), false).Add("Name", "Value", "Items");
        liteModel = TypeModel.Create();
        liteModel.Add(typeof(MyOtherObject), false);
        liteModel.Add(typeof(MyObject), false).Add("Name", "Value");
    }
    static void Main()
    {
        var obj = new MyObject
        {
            Name = "abc",
            Value = 123,
            Items = new List<MyOtherObject>
            {
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
                new MyOtherObject(),
            }
        };
        using (var file = File.Create("foo.bin"))
        {
            fatModel.Serialize(file, obj);
        }
        MyObject lite;
        using (var file = File.OpenRead("foo.bin"))
        {
            lite = (MyObject)liteModel.Deserialize(
                file, null, typeof(MyObject));
        }
    }
}