Day 18 Programming in C# 70-483

Index

• Introduction
• XML serializer
• Binary serializer
• DataContract serializer
• JSON serializer
• References

Introduction

This post is part of a series of post to help you prepare the MCSD certification, particularly the certification exam 70-483, based on the book:

You will find all the code available in the following GitHub repository. Lets talk a little bit about threads and how they work using a .Net development environment.

XML serializer

Serialization is about transformation in order to send information. When you want to send data to a web service first you transform that data to a flat or binary form, send it and then you transform back that data. When you want to define what data you want to serialize, typically a DTO (Data transfer object) is created where you define all the properties you want to send.

Features:

• XmlSerializer class
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
• Not the best performance
• Can't do private fields
• Decoration:
• class: [Serializable]
• properties: by default members are serialized as XmlElement, ie, as nodes.
• [XmlIgnore]: not serialize
• [XmlAttribute]
• [XmlElement]
• [XmlArray]: for collections
• [XmlArrayItem]: for collections

Binary serializer

This type of serializer is used more commonly with images and non-readable data. 

Features:

• BinarySerializer class
• namespaces: System.Runtime.Serialization and System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary
• Private fields are serialized by default
• Decoration:
• class: [Serializable]
• properties:
• [NonSerialized]
• methods:
• [OnDeserializedAttribute]
• [OnDeserializingAttribute]
• [OnSerializedAttribute]
• [OnSerializingAttribute]
• ISerializable: by implementing this you can define what is serialized, and if you have sensitive data you can encrypt prior to serialization. Implement:
• GetObjectData(): called when your object is serialized. You can decorate it with a SecurityPermission attribute, so it is allowed to serialize and deserialize
• protected constructor: called when you object is deserialized. You use it to retrive the values and build your object by defining 

DataContract serializer

Features:

• DataContractSerializer class
• It's used by WCF to serialize to XML or JSON
• Decoration:
• class: [DataContract]
• operations: [DataMember]
• methods:
• [OnDeserializedAttribute]
• [OnDeserializingAttribute]
• [OnSerializedAttribute]
• [OnSerializingAttribute]

JSON serializer

Features:

• DataContractJsonSerializer class
• small amounts of data
• It uses Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)

References

https://github.com/tribet84/MCSD/tree/master/mcsd