how does serialization handle versions?

[dazinith]

in c++ when i would serialize an object i would always put a version as the second string serialized.. then when i deserialized i would read that version and read in the rest of the data based on what version the file was, in case variables had been added/removed between that version and the current version. how does C# handle this? it seems like it serializes and deserializes in its own way.. how do i handle multiple versions of an object when serializing? still a newb.. cut me some slack :P -dz

[James T Johnson]

dazinith wrote: how does C# handle this? Very poorly IMHO. If the structure/class has changed between versions then you will get an exception thrown when it tries to deserialize the object. There is currently a problem if you serialized a Hashtable in version 1.0 of the framework and try to deserialize that Hashtable in version 1.1. The cause is that MS added a new member to the Hashtable in the new version. I do not know what would happen if you implement ISerializable to do as you mentioned (storing a Version object and have your deserialization code from ISerializable use that Version object to read back the correct data). Perhaps this would make a good article :) dazinith wrote: still a newb.. cut me some slack We all were at one time or another ;) James "It is self repeating, of unknown pattern" Data - Star Trek: The Next Generation