The process of converting an object into a stream data is known as serialization. In other words we can say that serialization is a process of converting your data into an object or an stream of data.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Serialization

The following are the basic advantages of serialization:

• Facilitate the transportation of an object through a network
• Create a clone of an object

The Serializable Attribute
In order for a class to be serializable, it must have the properties SerializableAttribute set except if they are avoided with the attribute NonSerializedAttribute.

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Text;
    using System.Xml.Serialization;
    namespace DemoSerialization
    {
        [Serializable]
        public class Employee
        {
            public int empCode;
            public string empName;
            [XmlAttribute(empName)]
            public string EmpName
            {
                get
                {
                    return empName;
                }

                set
                {
                    empName = value;
                }
            }
        }
    }

Types of Serialization

• Binary Serialization
• SOAP Serialization
• XML Serialization