Serialization

[Guest]

Hi Guys

I want to understand Serialization.

What is serialization.
When do we need to use??
What are advantages and Disadvantages.

Also please diret me to some good sites on serialization.
Thanks for all ur help.

Thanks
vinay

 

[Marina]

Serialization is the process of taking an object in memory and turning it to
something that can be written out to a stream (file, network stream, etc).

For example, if a web service returns a dataset, that dataset objects needs
to be serialized into XML, and then deserialized back into a dataset object
on the client.

I recommed just searching google for site for more info.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi vinay,

The simplest way to describe serialization is the process of converting
binary objects to text.

Most often in .Net, this is done by converting objects to XML.

Serialization is used with SOAP, for converting objects into XML in order to
transmit them over the Internet via SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). It
is also useful for cross-platform compatibility, as text is text on any
platform.

Generally speaking, at the other end, XML is de-serialized back into binary
objects.

The advantage of serialzation is the ability to transmit data across a
network in a cross-platform-compatible format, as well as saving it in a
storage medium in a non-proprietary format.

The chief disadvantage is the overhead involved in serializing and
de-serializing data, as well as latency issues with transmitting text over a
TCP network.

You can read lots more about serialization by following the following URL:

http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?qu=serialization&View=msdn&st=b&c=4&s=1&swc=4

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
I get paid good money to
solve puzzles for a living

 

[Guest]

In serialization, does it save to the HardDisk or is always in the Memory??

 

[Marina]

It's irrelevant where it gets saved to. The example I gave with web service
was transporting an object over the internet. But you could just as easily
have something serialized to a file. Like I said, you can think of
serialization working on streams - and there are many different kidns of
streams.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Is a string in the hard disk, or is it in memory?

(Answer: It is wherever you put it).

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
I get paid good money to
solve puzzles for a living

 

[bruce barker]

this isn't strictly true.

Serialization doesn't require text as the medium, binary serializers are
very common. In fact with .net you can pick either binary or xml when you
serialize an object.

-- bruce (sqlwork.com)

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Thanks for the correction again, bruce.

Yes, serialization can be binary.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
I get paid good money to
solve puzzles for a living

 

[Guest]

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the correction again, bruce.

Yes, serialization can be binary.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
I get paid good money to
solve puzzles for a living