Deserialize to self

[George Addison]

I understand this might not be the optimal method of
deserialization , but how can I deserialize a class to
itself? Something like:

Public Sub New(Optional ByVal filename as string =
Nothing)
If Not IsNothing(filen ame) then
fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter
me = CType(sf.Deseri alize(fs), cJob)
End If
End Sub

[Codemonkey]

How about creating a shared method called "Load" or something that returns
the deserialized instance?

Alternatively, but messy, you could deserialize to a local variable instance
and then copy all its fields to the current instance.

Hope this helps,

Trev.

"George Addison" <an*******@disc ussions.microso ft.com> wrote in message
news:10******** *************** *****@phx.gbl.. .

I understand this might not be the optimal method of
deserialization , but how can I deserialize a class to
itself? Something like:

Public Sub New(Optional ByVal filename as string =
Nothing)
If Not IsNothing(filen ame) then
fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter
me = CType(sf.Deseri alize(fs), cJob)
End If
End Sub

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

* "George Addison" <an*******@disc ussions.microso ft.com> scripsit:

I understand this might not be the optimal method of
deserialization , but how can I deserialize a class to
itself? Something like:

Public Sub New(Optional ByVal filename as string =
Nothing)
If Not IsNothing(filen ame) then
fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter
me = CType(sf.Deseri alize(fs), cJob)
End If
End Sub

You cannot assign anything to 'Me'. I would create a shared method in
the class which returns an instance of the class.

--
Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]
<http://www.mvps.org/dotnet>

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

George,
Short answer: You Don't!!!!

Long answer: You cannot deserialize a class to "me" as by the time the
constructor executes the object has already been created. Deserialization
creates a new object!

A couple of alternatives would be to add a Factory Method to your class that
deserializes an instance of the class and return it.

Public Class cJob

Private m_attr1 As String
Private m_attr2 As String

Public Shared Function FromFile(ByVal filename as string) As cJob
fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter
return DirectCast(sf.D eserialize(fs), cJob)
End
End Class

Note that the above Factory Method is a Shared method (you do not need an
instance of the class to use it) and it returns an instance of the class.

A more involved alternative is to have a class private to cJob that contains
all of cJOb's data, then each method of cJob would delegate to this private
class

Public Class Job

Private Class JobData
Private m_attr1 As String
Private m_attr2 As String
End Class

Private Readonly m_data As JobData

Public Sub New()
m_data = new JobData
End Sub

Public Sub New(ByVal filename as string) fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter m_data = DirectCast(sf.D eserialize(fs), JobData)
End

End Class

Of course this runs into problems when you attempt to serialize, as you
cannot really serialize the Job object, you need to serialize the JobData
object. I would favor the Factory Method.

Hope this helps
Jay

"George Addison" <an*******@disc ussions.microso ft.com> wrote in message
news:10******** *************** *****@phx.gbl.. . I understand this might not be the optimal method of
deserialization , but how can I deserialize a class to
itself? Something like:

Public Sub New(Optional ByVal filename as string =
Nothing)
If Not IsNothing(filen ame) then
fs = New System.IO.FileS tream(filename,
System.IO.FileM ode.Open)
Dim sf As New
System.Runtime. Serialization.F ormatters.Soap. SoapFormatter
me = CType(sf.Deseri alize(fs), cJob)
End If
End Sub

[George Addison]

I appreciate all your feedback! Thanks.