System.Xml.Serialization

Aded in .NET 1.1

This namespace represents a collection of attribute objects that control how the XmlSerializer serializes and deserializes an object.

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlEnumAttribute

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnoreAttribute

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer

Aded in .NET 1.1
Can be used to serialise .NET types to XML files.
link - learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/examples-of-xml-serialization

Data is commonly sent and retrieved in an XML format but processing the XML directly is a nightmare
To make this transition easier you can convert from XML to an object.
Converting between XML and custom business objects is known as serialization and there is a namespace dedicated to this.
Was used by ASMX web services

Classes - System.XML.Serialization.XMLSerializer
Lets you convert objects to XML and visa versa.
This class will also automatically create arrays when there are nested elements

converts object to a stream of bytes
to persist the state of an object to a storage medium so an exact copy can be recreated at a later stage
to send an object by value from one app domain to another
can be used to save objects to the clipboard

.NET provides an automate serilization mechanism by using Reflection
When an object is serialized, the name of the class, the assembly and all the data members are written to storage.

Serialize and Deserialize can work with a Stream, XmlWriter/XmlReader or TextWriter/TextReader

Serializing a Class

<System.Serializable()> 
Public Class MyClass 

Private MyField As Boolean 
Private m_bMyFlag As Boolean 

Public Sub New 
   m_bMyFlag = False 
End Sub 

Public Property MyFlag() As Boolean 
   Get 
      Return m_bFlag 
   End Get 

   Set(ByVal value As Boolean) 
      m_bMyFlag = value 
   End Set 
End Property 

Public Class AnotherClass 
End Class 

End Class 

Renaming Classes

[XMLType("newclass")] 
Public class MyClass 
{ 
} 

Renaming Elements

<System.XML.XMLElement(ElementName="newelement")>_ 
[XMLElement("newelement")] 
public string myelement 
{ 
} 

Renaming Attributes

[XMLAttribute("newattribute")] 
public boolean myattribute 
{ 
} 

<newclass newattribute="one"> 
   <newelement>"two"</newelement> 
</newclass> 

Ignoring Properties

[XMLIgnore] 
Public string myproperty 

Including

[XMLInclude]