Serialization and Linked Objects
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In my program I have alot of objects that are linked together directly and indirectly sort of like a database. I want to use serialization to save these objects. My question is when I tell it to serilize the object will it serialize just that object or will it also serilize objects that it is directly or indirectly linked to? And if the answer is the latter does this mean I would end up with duplicate copies being saved of the same object if I save more than 1 entry point for this group of objects? thanks, Mike
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In my program I have alot of objects that are linked together directly and indirectly sort of like a database. I want to use serialization to save these objects. My question is when I tell it to serilize the object will it serialize just that object or will it also serilize objects that it is directly or indirectly linked to? And if the answer is the latter does this mean I would end up with duplicate copies being saved of the same object if I save more than 1 entry point for this group of objects? thanks, Mike
This depends on which version of .NET you're using. Under .NET 1.x, you'll have to write your own serializer. This is easy considering there are hundred examples of it all over the web. All you have to do is Google for "VB.NET serialize linked list" to find them. Under .NET 2.0, this is even easier if you use the generic
LinkedListclass for your collections. It's already serializable and can be used with the existing .NET serialization classes.A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007