We Keep Coding

Serializing string content

I had an ASP.net app in which we serialized a string content using BinaryFormatter like this :
BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
try
{
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
bf.Serialize(ms, Content);
var SerializedContent = ms.GetBuffer();
return SerializedContent;
}
// ...
But now that BinaryFormatter has become obsolete I am getting exception. I have been trying to use XMLSerializer but haven't been able to make it work. This is what I have been trying:
XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(Content.GetType());
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
xmlSerializer.Serialize(ms, Content);
var SerializedContent = ms.GetBuffer();
return SerializedContent;
}
// ...
But I don't get the correct output. What am I doing wrong?

How to use a string instead of a stream?

I need to use this:
http://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/SerializeToBson.htm
This is code to convert object to BSON format. The code which interests me is this:
System.IO.MemoryStream stream = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
using (Newtonsoft.Json.Bson.BsonWriter writer = new Newtonsoft.Json.Bson.BsonWriter(stream))
{
Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer serializer = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer();
serializer.Serialize(writer, message);
}
However, I want the result in a string. So do I really have to use a stream or a file to write stuff in, then read it to put it in the string?
There must be a better way to do this?

You can get the string from the stream using StreamReader.ReadToEnd():
string bsonText = "";
using(MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
using(StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
using (BsonWriter writer = new Newtonsoft.Json.Bson.BsonWriter(stream))
{
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
serializer.Serialize(writer, message);
stream.Position = 0;
bsonText = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
Or also, Encoding.UTF8.GetString():
using(MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
using (BsonWriter writer = new Newtonsoft.Json.Bson.BsonWriter(stream))
{
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
serializer.Serialize(writer, message);
bsonText = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(stream.ToArray());
}
BTW who knows what you're going to get from this, since BSON is a binary object representation, it's not like JSON!

Serializing a memorystream object to string

Right now I'm using XmlTextWriter to convert a MemoryStream object into string. But I wan't to know whether there is a faster method to serialize a memorystream to string.
I follow the code given here for serialization - http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/system.xml.xmlserialization.asp
Edited
Stream to String
ms.Position = 0;
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms))
{
string content = sr.ReadToEnd();
SaveInDB(ms);
}
String to Stream
string content = GetFromContentDB();
byte[] byteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(content);
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(byteArray);
byte[] outBuf = ms.GetBuffer(); //error here

using(MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream()) {
stream.Position = 0;
var sr = new StreamReader(stream);
string myStr = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
You cant use GetBuffer when you use MemoryStream(byte[]) constructor.
MSDN quote:
This constructor does not expose the
underlying stream. GetBuffer throws
UnauthorizedAccessException.
You must use this constructor and set publiclyVisible = true in order to use GetBuffer

In VB.net i used this
Dim TempText = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(TempMemoryStream.ToArray())
in C# may apply

Xml Serialization / Deserialization Problem

After writing and reading an xml string to and from a stream, it ceases to be deserializable. The new string is clipped.
string XmlContent = getContentFromMyDataBase();
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyObj));
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms);
char[] ca = XmlContent.ToCharArray(); // still working up to this point.
ms.Position = 0;
sw.Write(ca);
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms);
ms.Position = 0;
string XmlContentAgain = sr.ReadToEnd();
Console.WriteLine(XmlContentAgain); // (outputstring is too short.)
MyObj theObj = (MyObj)xs.Deserialize(ms); // Can't deserialize.
Any suggestions as to how to fix this or what is causing the problem? My only guess is that there is some form of encoding issue, but I wouldn't know how to go about finding/fixing it.
Additionally, myObj has a generic dictionary member, which typically isn't serializable, so I have stolen code from Paul Welter in order to serialize it.

Try flushing and disposing or even better simplify your code using a StringReader:
string xmlContent = getContentFromMyDataBase();
var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyObj));
using (var reader = new StringReader(xmlContent))
{
var theObj = (MyObj)xs.Deserialize(reader);
}
Note: The getContentFromMyDataBase method also suggests that you are storing XML in your database that you are deserializing back to an object. Don't.

You need to Flush or Close (closing implicitly flushes) the StreamWriter, or you cannot be sure it is done writing to the underlying stream. This is because it is doing some internal buffering.
Try this:
using(StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms))
{
char[] ca = XmlContent.ToCharArray(); // still working up to this point.
ms.Position = 0;
sw.Write(ca);
}
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms);
ms.Position = 0;
string XmlContentAgain = sr.ReadToEnd();

C# Object Binary Serialization

I want to make a binary serialize of an object and the result to save it in a database.
Person person = new Person();
person.Name = "something";
MemoryStream memorystream = new MemoryStream();
BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
bf.Serialize(memorystream, person);
How can I transform memorystream in a string type to be saved in database, and after this to be able to deserialize the object?

What you're really asking for is a safe way of representing arbitrary binary data as text and then converting it back again. The fact that it stores a serialized object is irrelevant.
The answer is almost to use Base 64 (e.g. Convert.ToBase64String and Convert.FromBase64String). Do not use Encoding.UTF8.GetString or anything similar - your binary data is not encoded text data, and shouldn't be treated as such.
However, does your database not have a data type for binary data? Check for BLOB, IMAGE and BINARY types...

Here's the sample. TData must be marked [Serializable] and all fields type also.
private static TData DeserializeFromString<TData>(string settings)
{
byte[] b = Convert.FromBase64String(settings);
using (var stream = new MemoryStream(b))
{
var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
return (TData)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
}
}
private static string SerializeToString<TData>(TData settings)
{
using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
formatter.Serialize(stream, settings);
stream.Flush();
stream.Position = 0;
return Convert.ToBase64String(stream.ToArray());
}
}

//-------write to database-------------------------
Person person = new Person();
person.name = "Firstnm Lastnm";
MemoryStream memorystream = new MemoryStream();
BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
bf.Serialize(memorystream, person);
byte[] yourBytesToDb = memorystream.ToArray();
//here you write yourBytesToDb to database
//----------read from database---------------------
//here you read from database binary data into yourBytesFromDb
MemoryStream memorystreamd = new MemoryStream(yourBytesFromDb);
BinaryFormatter bfd = new BinaryFormatter();
Person deserializedperson = bfd.Deserialize(memorystreamd) as Person;

I used something like this
MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
BinaryFormatter binaryFormatter = new BinaryFormatter();
binaryFormatter.Serialize(memoryStream, Person);
memoryStream.Flush();
memoryStream.Position = 0;
string value = Convert.ToBase64String(memoryStream.ToArray());

Basically, don't save the data as string to the database, there are blob fields available to store binary data.
If you really need to have the data as string, you'll need to convert your byte[] to a string using base64 encoding, and to grab the byte[] from a string use decoding.

Have you not looked into converting the memorystream into a base64hex string to be put into the database?
byte[] mStream = memorystream.ToArray();
string sConvertdHex = System.Convert.ToBase64String(mStream)
Then you can dump the contents sConvertdHex to the database. To deserialize it you need to do the reverse
byte[] mData = System.Convert.FromBase64String(...)
then deserialize mData back to your object.