SerializeLib

A library for serializing and deserializing in .net

Supported types

• Primitives
  • bool, string, byte, short, int, long, float, double, decimal (and unsigned variants).
• Lists + arrays
  • Lists and arrays can contain any supported types.
  • Note: Lists/arrays with value of null will be deserialized as an empty list/array.
• Objects
  • Any object which has the [SerializeClass] attribute can be serialized as a field as well.
  • Objects with value of null will be deserialized as null as expected.

Usage

Defining a serializable object

1. With attributes (automatic)

using SerializeLib.Attributes;

[SerializeClass]
public class SerializationExample {
    [SerializeField(0)] public bool ExampleBool;
}

2. With interface (manual)
   If you want to manually serialize data which can't be serialized yet, you can read/write the stream.
   Make 100% sure that you read EXACTLY as many bytes as you write. Failure to do so will fail to deserialize.

using SerializeLib.Interfaces;

internal class ManualSerializeClass : ISerializableClass<ManualSerializeClass> {
    public int Number = 0; // Lets serialize this int
    
    public void Serialize(Stream s)
    {
        Serializer.SerializeValue(Number, s); // Generic, so type is auto-detected here
    }

    public ManualSerializeClass Deserialize(Stream s)
    {
        Number = Serializer.DeserializeValue<int>(s); // Generic, type is specified here
        
        return this; // "return this;" is not a hard requirement, in some cases, you might want to return something else.
    }
}

Serializing the object

using SerializeLib;

// Create an object to serialize
var exampleObject = new SerializationExample {
    ExampleBool = true
}

// Serialize to a stream
var stream = new MemoryStream();
Serializer.Serialize(exampleObject, stream);

// Serialize to a byte[]
var bytes = Serializer.Serialize(exampleObject);

// Serialize and write to file
Serializer.SerializeToFile(exampleObject, "filename.bin")

Deserializing the object

using SerializeLib;

// Deserialize from a stream
var stream = new MemoryStream(); // In practice, this should be a stream with the serialized bytes
var exampleObject = Serializer.Deserialize<SerializationExample>(stream);

// Deserialize from a byte[]
var bytes = new byte[0]; // In practice, this should be a byte array with the serialized bytes
var exampleObject = Serializer.Deserialize<SerializationExample>(bytes);

// Deserialize from a file
var exampleObject = Serializer.DeserializeFromFile<SerializationExample>("filename.bin");