System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatter Class

Summary

Provides base functionality for the common language runtime serialization formatters.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

[CLSCompliant(false)] [Serializable] public abstract class Formatter : IFormatter

Formatter is the abstract base class for all runtime serialization formatters, and provides some helper methods for implementing the IFormatter interface. The Formatter also manages queuing objects for serialization and generating IDs on a per-object basis.

Notes to inheritors: When you inherit from Formatter, you must override the following members: Formatter.Serialize, Formatter.Deserialize, Formatter.WriteArray, Formatter.WriteBoolean, Formatter.WriteByte, Formatter.WriteChar, Formatter.WriteDateTime, Formatter.WriteDecimal, Formatter.WriteDouble, Formatter.WriteInt16, Formatter.WriteInt32, Formatter.WriteInt64, Formatter.WriteObjectRef, Formatter.WriteSByte, Formatter.WriteSingle, Formatter.WriteTimeSpan, Formatter.WriteUInt16, Formatter.WriteUInt32, Formatter.WriteUInt64, Formatter.WriteValueType, Formatter.SurrogateSelector, Formatter.Binder, and Formatter.Context.

System.Runtime.Serialization Namespace | ObjectIDGenerator | MSDN: serialization

System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatter Member List:

Public Properties

Binder	Read-write When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the SerializationBinder used with the current formatter.
Context	Read-write When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the StreamingContext used for the current serialization.
SurrogateSelector	Read-write When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the ISurrogateSelector used with the current formatter.

Public Methods

Deserialize	When overridden in a derived class, deserializes the stream attached to the formatter when it was created, creating a graph of objects identical to the graph originally serialized into that stream.
Equals (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.Equals Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
GetHashCode (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.GetHashCode Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
GetType (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.GetType Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
Serialize	When overridden in a derived class, serializes the graph of objects with the specified root to the stream already attached to the formatter.
ToString (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.ToString Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.

Protected Constructors

ctor #1

Default constructor. This constructor is called by derived class constructors to initialize state in this type. Initializes a new instance of the Formatter class.

Protected Fields

m_idGenerator	Contains the ObjectIDGenerator used with the current formatter.
m_objectQueue	Contains a Queue of the objects left to serialize.

Protected Methods

Finalize (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.Finalize Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
GetNext	Returns the next object to serialize, from the formatter's internal work queue.
MemberwiseClone (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.MemberwiseClone Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
Schedule	Schedules an object for later serialization.
WriteArray	When overridden in a derived class, writes an array to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteBoolean	When overridden in a derived class, writes a Boolean value to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteByte	When overridden in a derived class, writes an 8-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteChar	When overridden in a derived class, writes a Unicode character to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteDateTime	When overridden in a derived class, writes a DateTime value to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteDecimal	When overridden in a derived class, writes a Decimal value to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteDouble	When overridden in a derived class, writes a double-precision floating-point number to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteInt16	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 16-bit signed integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteInt32	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 32-bit signed integer to the stream.
WriteInt64	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 64-bit signed integer to the stream.
WriteMember	Inspects the type of data received, and calls the appropriate Write method to perform the write to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteObjectRef	When overridden in a derived class, writes an object reference to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteSByte	When overridden in a derived class, writes an 8-bit signed integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteSingle	When overridden in a derived class, writes a single-precision floating-point number to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteTimeSpan	When overridden in a derived class, writes a TimeSpan value to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteUInt16	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 16-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteUInt32	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 32-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteUInt64	When overridden in a derived class, writes a 64-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.
WriteValueType	When overridden in a derived class, writes a value of the given type to the stream already attached to the formatter.

Hierarchy:

• System.Object
• System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatter

System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatter Member Details

Summary

Initializes a new instance of the Formatter class.

This class is not CLS Compliant

Default constructor. This constructor is called by derived class constructors to initialize state in this type.

C# Syntax:

protected Formatter();

Creates a Queue for objects to serialize and an ObjectIDGenerator to generate IDs for them.

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Summary

Contains the ObjectIDGenerator used with the current formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected ObjectIDGenerator m_idGenerator;

The ObjectIDGenerator maintains a list of the objects that have been identified and the IDs that they were given.

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Summary

Contains a Queue of the objects left to serialize.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected Queue m_objectQueue;

Objects scheduled for serialization with the Formatter.Schedule method are pushed on the queue.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the SerializationBinder used with the current formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public abstract SerializationBinder Binder {get; set;}

Implements:

IFormatter.Binder

The SerializationBinder performs lookups for types from the type names passed during deserialization. If no SerializationBinder is set, a default is used.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this property in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the StreamingContext used for the current serialization.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public abstract StreamingContext Context {get; set;}

Implements:

IFormatter.Context

The StreamingContext is an indication of either the source of the bits being deserialized or the destination of the bits being serialized. It has no impact on default serialization, but is passed as an argument to ISerializable and ISerializationSurrogate.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this property in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, gets or sets the ISurrogateSelector used with the current formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public abstract ISurrogateSelector SurrogateSelector {get; set;}

Implements:

IFormatter.SurrogateSelector

Use the SurrogateSelector to look up implementations of ISerializationSurrogate that control the serialization of a particular type.

Note If an object type has a matching surrogate, then serialization and deserialization are handed off to the surrogate even if the type implements the ISerializable interface.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this property in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, deserializes the stream attached to the formatter when it was created, creating a graph of objects identical to the graph originally serialized into that stream.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public abstract object Deserialize(    Stream serializationStream );

serializationStream

The stream to deserialize.

Return Value:

The top object of the deserialized graph of objects.

Implements:

IFormatter.Deserialize

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.Equals

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public virtual bool Equals(    object obj );

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.Finalize

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

~Formatter();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.GetHashCode

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public virtual int GetHashCode();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Summary

Returns the next object to serialize, from the formatter's internal work queue.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected virtual object GetNext(    out long objID );

objID

The ID assigned to the current object during serialization.

Return Value:

The next object to serialize.

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
SerializationException	The next object retrieved from the work queue did not have an assigned ID.

Objects are returned in a first in first out order based on how they were passed to Formatter.Schedule. The ID of the object is put into the objID parameter and the object is returned from the function.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.GetType

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public Type GetType();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.MemberwiseClone

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected object MemberwiseClone();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Summary

Schedules an object for later serialization.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected virtual long Schedule(    object obj );

obj

The object to schedule for serialization.

Return Value:

The object ID assigned to the object.

Formatter.Schedule obtains an ID for the object and puts it on the queue for later serialization if this is a new object ID. The schedule is a work queue of objects to serialize, and is held inside the formatter. If the object is already on the work queue, it will not be added a second time, but an exception will not be thrown either.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, serializes the graph of objects with the specified root to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public abstract void Serialize(    Stream serializationStream,    object graph );

serializationStream

The stream to which the objects are serialized.

graph

The object at the root of the graph to serialize.

Implements:

IFormatter.Serialize

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.ToString

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

public virtual string ToString();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes an array to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteArray(    object obj,    string name,    Type memberType );

obj

The array to write.

name

The name of the array.

memberType

The type of elements that the array holds.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a Boolean value to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteBoolean(    bool val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes an 8-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteByte(    byte val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a Unicode character to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteChar(    char val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a DateTime value to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteDateTime(    DateTime val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a Decimal value to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteDecimal(    decimal val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a double-precision floating-point number to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteDouble(    double val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 16-bit signed integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteInt16(    short val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 32-bit signed integer to the stream.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteInt32(    int val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 64-bit signed integer to the stream.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteInt64(    long val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

Inspects the type of data received, and calls the appropriate Write method to perform the write to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected virtual void WriteMember(    string memberName,    object data );

memberName

The name of the member to serialize.

data

The object to write to the stream attached to the formatter.

To use this method properly, all the Write<DataType> methods ( Formatter.WriteArray method, Formatter.WriteBoolean method, Formatter.WriteByte method, and so on) should have the appropriate functionality.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes an object reference to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteObjectRef(    object obj,    string name,    Type memberType );

obj

The object reference to write.

name

The name of the member.

memberType

The type of object the reference points to.

Schedules the object with the graph walker to handle the work.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes an 8-bit signed integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

This member is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

[CLSCompliant(false)] protected abstract void WriteSByte(    sbyte val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a single-precision floating-point number to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteSingle(    float val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a TimeSpan value to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteTimeSpan(    TimeSpan val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 16-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

This member is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

[CLSCompliant(false)] protected abstract void WriteUInt16(    ushort val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 32-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

This member is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

[CLSCompliant(false)] protected abstract void WriteUInt32(    uint val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a 64-bit unsigned integer to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

This member is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

[CLSCompliant(false)] protected abstract void WriteUInt64(    ulong val,    string name );

val

The value to write.

name

The name of the member.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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Summary

When overridden in a derived class, writes a value of the given type to the stream already attached to the formatter.

This class is not CLS Compliant

C# Syntax:

protected abstract void WriteValueType(    object obj,    string name,    Type memberType );

obj

The object representing the value type.

name

The name of the member.

memberType

The Type of the value type.

Notes to inheritors: You must implement this method in a derived class.

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