Explain about Serialization in .NET. Explain binary serialization and XML serialization
System.Runtime.Serialization namespace provides Serialization in .NET.
The IFormatter interface in the namespace contains Serialize and De-serialize methods that save and load data of a stream.
So we need stream as a container for the serialized object(s) and a formatter that serializes these objects onto the stream to implement serialization in .net.
Binary serialization is a mechanism that creates exact binary copy of the object onto the storage media by writing the data to the output stream such that it can be used to re-construct the object automatically.
XML serialization results in strongly typed classes with public properties and fields that are converted to a serial format for storage or transport. This XML stream conforms to a specific XML Schema definition language (XSD) document.
Explain why Serialization.
An object is stored in a file, a database or even in the memory. However, data to be transferred over a network needs to be in a linear form for which serialization and deserialization are used.
Advantage of serialization is the ability of an object to be serialized into a persistent or a non-persistent storage media and then reconstructing the same object later by de-serializing the object.
Remoting and Web Services depend heavily on Serialization and De-serialization.
Explain the components that comprise the binary serialization architecture.
To binary serialize an object we need a FileStream object,
Constructor: FileStream(file_name, FileMode.Create);
And
BinaryFormatter
Constructor: binaryFormatter.Serialize(fileStreamObject, object1);
What is Formatters? Explain the binary formatter and the SOAP formatter.
A formatter determines the serialization format for objects.
.NET framework provides Binary formatter and SOAP formatter which inherit from the IFormatter interface.
The Binary FormatterIt provides binary encoding for compact serialization for storage or socket-based network streams.
It is not appropriate for data to be passed through a firewall.
The SOAP FormatterIt provides formatting that can be used to enable objects to be serialized using the SOAP protocol.
The class is used for serialization through firewalls or diverse systems.
