Serialization - XML serialization

Q. What is Serialization

Ans : Serialization can be defined as the process of storing the state of an object to a storage medium. During this process, the public and private fields of the object and the name of the class, including the assembly containing the class, are converted to a stream of bytes, which is then written to a data stream. When the object is subsequently deserialized, an exact clone of the original object is created.

When implementing a serialization mechanism in an object-oriented environment, you have to make a number of tradeoffs between ease of use and flexibility. The process can be automated to a large extent, provided you are given sufficient control over the process. For example, situations may arise where simple binary serialization is not sufficient, or there might be a specific reason to decide which fields in a class need to be serialized. The following sections examine the robust serialization mechanism provided with the .NET Framework and highlight a number of important features that allow you to customize the process to meet your needs.

Serialization in .NET allows the programmer to take an instance of an object and convert it into a format that is easily transmittable over the network, or even stored in a database or file system. This object will actually be an instance of a custom type, including any properties or fields you may have set.

XML serialization converts (serializes) the public fields and properties of an object, or the parameters and return values of methods, into an XML stream that conforms to a specific XML Schema definition language (XSD) document. XML serialization results in strongly typed classes with public properties and fields that are converted to a serial format (in this case, XML) for storage or transport.
Because XML is an open standard, the XML stream can be processed by any application, as needed, regardless of platform. For example, XML Web services created using ASP.NET use the XmlSerializer class to create XML streams that pass data between XML Web service applications throughout the Internet or on intranets. Conversely, deserialization takes such an XML stream and reconstructs the object.
XML serialization can also be used to serialize objects into XML streams that conform to the SOAP specification. SOAP is a protocol based on XML, designed specifically to transport procedure calls using XML.
To serialize or deserialize objects, use the XmlSerializer class. To create the classes to be serialized, use the XML Schema Definition tool.