Using the binary reader and writer for psuedo-serialization : Class Serialization « Class « C# / CSharp Tutorial

1. C# / CSharp Tutorial
2. Class
3. Class Serialization

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Mail;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;


struct Employee
{
    public string FirstName;
    public string LastName;
    public int Extension;
    public string SocialSecurityNumber;
    public bool Salaried;

    public Employee(string firstName, string lastName, int extension, string ssn, bool salaried)
    {
        this.FirstName = firstName;
        this.LastName = lastName;
        this.Extension = extension;
        this.SocialSecurityNumber = ssn;
        this.Salaried = salaried;
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return string.Format("{0}, {1}; {2}; {3}; {4}", LastName, FirstName, Extension, SocialSecurityNumber, Salaried);
    }
}

public class MainClass
{
    private static List<Employee> CreateEmployees()
    {
        List<Employee> emps = new List<Employee>();
        emps.Add(new Employee("J", "D", 3, "001-21-2232", true));
        emps.Add(new Employee("G", "B", 5, "001-21-0002", true));
        emps.Add(new Employee("J", "R", 9, "322-21-4321", false));
        emps.Add(new Employee("B", "B", 3, "331-22-1211", true));
        emps.Add(new Employee("H", "S", 9, "991-28-2777", false));
        return emps;
    }

    private static List<Employee> DeserializeEmployees(Stream s)
    {
        List<Employee> employees = new List<Employee>();
        BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(s);

        try
        {
            while (true)
            {
                Employee e = new Employee();
                e.FirstName = reader.ReadString();
                e.LastName = reader.ReadString();
                e.Extension = reader.ReadInt32();
                e.SocialSecurityNumber = reader.ReadString();
                e.Salaried = reader.ReadBoolean();
                employees.Add(e);
                Console.WriteLine("Read: {0}", e.ToString());
            }
        }
        catch (EndOfStreamException)
        {
        }

        return employees;
    }

    private static void SerializeEmployees(Stream s, IEnumerable<Employee> employees)
    {
        BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(s);
        foreach (Employee e in employees)
        {
            writer.Write(e.FirstName);
            writer.Write(e.LastName);
            writer.Write(e.Extension);
            writer.Write(e.SocialSecurityNumber);
            writer.Write(e.Salaried);
            Console.WriteLine("Wrote: {0}", e.ToString());
        }
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        Stream s = new MemoryStream();
        IEnumerable<Employee> employees = CreateEmployees();

        SerializeEmployees(s, employees);

        s.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        DeserializeEmployees(s);

        s.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        int read;
        while ((read = s.ReadByte()) != -1)
            Console.Write("{0:X} ", read);

    }
}

Wrote: D, J; 3; 001-21-2232; True
Wrote: B, G; 5; 001-21-0002; True
Wrote: R, J; 9; 322-21-4321; False
Wrote: B, B; 3; 331-22-1211; True
Wrote: S, H; 9; 991-28-2777; False
Read: D, J; 3; 001-21-2232; True
Read: B, G; 5; 001-21-0002; True
Read: R, J; 9; 322-21-4321; False
Read: B, B; 3; 331-22-1211; True
Read: S, H; 9; 991-28-2777; False
1 4A 1 44 3 0 0 0 B 30 30 31 2D 32 31 2D 32 32 33 32 1 1 47 1 42 5 0 0 0 B 30 30 31 2D 32 31 2D 30 3
0 30 32 1 1 4A 1 52 9 0 0 0 B 33 32 32 2D 32 31 2D 34 33 32 31 0 1 42 1 42 3 0 0 0 B 33 33 31 2D 32
32 2D 31 32 31 31 1 1 48 1 53 9 0 0 0 B 39 39 31 2D 32 38 2D 32 37 37 37 0