In this article we will discuss various types of serialization and deserialization in wcf.
Serialization and Deserialization are the two most important techniques of data transmission from one end to another ( client to service and vice verse ).
.NET framwork provides a namespace for this serialization and deserialization of objects, called
We will use the below data contract for all the three types of serialization and deserialization.
[DataContract]
Public class Employee
{
[DataMember]
Public string emp_Name;
[DataMember]
Public int emp_Id;
}
Initialize the class with the below values.
Employee emp = new Employee { emp_Name = "Tapan kumar",
emp_Id = 001 };
DataContractSerializer :
This is the default serializer used by .NET framework.
Serialization :
In order to use this, first create an object of the Employee class, then we will serialize the object to a memory stream using DataContractSerializer.
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
FileStream fs = new FileStream("test.xml", FileMode.Open);
DataContractSerializer ser = new DataContractSerializer( typeof(Employee));
// write the object data to the file stream
XmlDictionaryWriter writer =
XmlDictionaryWriter.CreateTextWriter(fs ,Encoding.UTF8 );
ser.WriteObject(writer, objEmp);
This serialization produces a "test.xml" file similar to;
<Employee>
<emp_Name>Tapan kumar</emp_Name>
<emp_Id>001</emp_Id>
</Employee>
Deserialization :
Here the same will be done but in a reverse manner.
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
FileStream fs = new FileStream("test,xml", FileMode.Open);
DataContractSerializer dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Employee));
// Read the object data from the file stream
XmlDictionaryReader reader =
XmlDictionaryReader.CreateText(fs, new XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas());
objEmp = (Employee)dcs.ReadObject(reader);
The ReadObject( ) method is used to read from the stream file.
XmlSerializer :
This one is a prety old method, that is used for serialization and
deserialization. Windows Communication Foundation supports it for
backwards compatibility.
Serialization :
In order to use this, first create an object of the Employee class, then we will serialize the object to a memory stream using XmlSerializer .
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
FileStream fs = new FileStream("test.xml", FileMode.Open);
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer( typeof(Employee));
// write the object data to the file stream
XmlDictionaryWriter writer =
XmlDictionaryWriter.CreateTextWriter(fs ,Encoding.UTF8 );
ser.Serialize(writer, objEmp);
This serialization produces a "test.xml" file similar to;
<Employee xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<emp_Name>Tapan kumar</emp_Name>
<emp_Id>001</emp_Id>
</Employee>
Deserialization :
Here the same will be done but in a reverse manner.
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
FileStream fs = new FileStream("test.xml", FileMode.Open);
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer( typeof(Employee));
// Read the object data from the file stream
XmlDictionaryReader reader =
XmlDictionaryReader.CreateText(ms, new XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas());
objEmp = (Employee)ser.Deserialize(reader);
DataContractJsonSerializer :
This one is the most advance serialization method, and used in a large scale due to its increasing popularity of data representation and for providing quicker and better packaging of data.
Serialization :
In order to use this, first create an object of the Employee class,
then we will serialize the object to a memory stream using DataContractJsonSerialization .
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new
DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Employee));
// write the object data to the memory stream
ser.WriteObject(ms, objEmp);
This serialization produces a JSON file similar to;
JSON serialized Person object: {"emp_Name":"Tapan kumar","emp_Id":"001"}.
Deserialization :
Here the same will be done but in a reverse manner.
// create the employee class.
Employee objEmp = new Employee ();
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new
DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Employee));
// first write
ser.WriteObject(ms, objEmp);
// Read the object data from the memory stream
objEmp = (Employee)ReadObject(ms);
Hope, this article gives you some idea about Serialization and Deserialization in WCF.
