SoapFormatter to XmlSerializer conversion

[Paul]

We currently persist our objects to xml/soap files using a SoapFormatter.
We control the serialization and de-serialization by implementing the
ISerializable and its two interface methods, namely, GetObjectData and a
constructor that takes two arguments (a SerializationInfo object and a
StreamingContext object).

It appears with the release of .net 2.0 that support for the SoapFormatter
is 'frozen' and that the direction we should take is to convert over to
using XmlSerializer. But it doesn't seem that the XmlSerializer has a
similar mechanism for controlling the serialization process. Instead, it
seems that attributes must now be placed on properties and fields to control
the serialization process. Given the large number of different object types
we persist, this will be a daunting task. And I haven't found any
documentation about some migration path.

Any direction or help on how to get from SoapFormatter to XmlSerializer
would really help.

Paul

[Kevin Yu [MSFT]]

Hi Paul,

It seems the usage of SoaFormatter and ISerialize is the same as in .NET
1.1. However, the SoapFormatter does not support serialization
compatibility between versions of the .NET Framework. Serialization between
versions 1.1 and 2.0 types in the Framework often fails. You can check the
following links for more informatioin.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...us,VS.80).aspx

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...ization.iseria
lizable

Kevin Yu
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[nickdu]

Don't know if this will help, but XmlSerialization (via the XmlSerializer)
has a similar mechanism to control serialization that .NET Serialization
does. There is an interface called IXmlSerializable. It's undocumented in
..NET 1.0 & 1.1 but exposed in .NET 2.0. You can search the web and find
articles on how to implement IXmlSerializable to control the serialization.
--
Thanks,
Nick
"Paul" wrote:

We currently persist our objects to xml/soap files using a SoapFormatter.
We control the serialization and de-serialization by implementing the
ISerializable and its two interface methods, namely, GetObjectData and a
constructor that takes two arguments (a SerializationInfo object and a
StreamingContext object).

It appears with the release of .net 2.0 that support for the SoapFormatter
is 'frozen' and that the direction we should take is to convert over to
using XmlSerializer. But it doesn't seem that the XmlSerializer has a
similar mechanism for controlling the serialization process. Instead, it
seems that attributes must now be placed on properties and fields to control
the serialization process. Given the large number of different object types
we persist, this will be a daunting task. And I haven't found any
documentation about some migration path.

Any direction or help on how to get from SoapFormatter to XmlSerializer
would really help.

Paul