Serialization is a fundamental process that creates a persistent and portable representation of an object. This representation can be stored to disk, or moved across a network so that the object can be recreated on another machine.
Before .NET, developers often created serialization code that serialized objects into a proprietary format. This format was often application-specific, so sharing serialization files between applications was tricky.
.NET improves upon this situation by providing a standard way of serializing and deserializing objects. Basic .NET serialization to XML, SOAP, and binary formats is also easy-to-use, because we do not have to provide any explicit serialization code. However, .NET serialization is also extensible, so we can provide own serialization format and code should we need or want to. Finally, .NET serialization persists not only the object state but also its metadata, which means that .NET applications on different platforms (such as Windows and Linux) could exchange and share serialized data in files.
Indeed, serialization plays a key role in the .NET Framework, being intimately linked to many important aspects of it, especially Remoting and Web Services.
So, it is clear that the advent of .NET presents developers with a new and exciting approach to serialization. To use it effectively and efficiently, developers need to understand the .NET serialization process, to be guided through its customizable features, and to be taught best practices. This book does just that.
The Visual Basic .NET Serialization Handbook delves deep into the .NET serialization mechanism. It shows you how to manipulate the mechanism in the way most suited to your needs, via practical code examples and in-depth discussion.
It starts off by discussing how serialization is used in the .NET Framework, and describing how to use default XML, binary and SOAP serialization, comparing and contrasting the usage scenarios of these different serialization formats.
It then moves to the next level, discussing how to create a class that can control its own serialization, and how to customize the serialization of other classes. It considers when a class should be made serializable, which class members should be serialized, and the issues associated with deserializing object graphs. You'll learn how to create your own custom serialization formatter, and how to deserialize an object into a different type than the original object. You'll also see the serialization issues associated with many other aspects of .NET, such as remoting, web services, versioning, and security.
