Code: Serializing and Deserializing Objects (Converting Objects to a String and Back)

Object serialization in .Net is pretty easy, once you have the right code.  It took me a few minutes to figure out the right code so I thought I’d post it here.  The code below is a working C# console app.

Code Snippet

1. using System;
2. using System.IO;
3. using System.Xml.Serialization;
4.  
5. namespace TestApp
6. {
7.     public class Program
8.     {
9.         static string serializedObject;
10.  
11.         static void Main(string[] args)
12.         {
13.             Serialize();
14.             Deserialize();
15.         }
16.  
17.         static void Serialize()
18.         {
19.             Person p = new Person() { Age = 20, Name = "Bob" };
20.             XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(p.GetType());
21.             using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
22.             {
23.                 serializer.Serialize(sw, p);
24.                 serializedObject = sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
25.             }
26.         }
27.  
28.         static void Deserialize()
29.         {
30.             XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Person));
31.             Person p = (Person)serializer.Deserialize(new StringReader(serializedObject));
32.             Console.WriteLine("Name:" + p.Name + " Age:" + p.Age);
33.             Console.ReadLine();
34.         }
35.  
36.         public class Person
37.         {
38.             public int Age { get; set; }
39.             public string Name { get; set; }
40.         }
41.     }
42. }