Serializing and deserializing a list of objects in a Windows Phone 8 app

Question

Given some list of objects:

List carlist = new List();

How can I serialize this list as an XML or binary file and des

Answer 1

I'm using these methods to Save and Load from a XML file in/to the IsolatedStorage :

public static class IsolatedStorageOperations
{
    public static async Task Save<T>(this T obj, string file)
    {
        await Task.Run(() =>
            {
                IsolatedStorageFile storage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication();
                IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = null;

                try
                {
                    stream = storage.CreateFile(file);
                    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (T));
                    serializer.Serialize(stream, obj);
                }
                catch (Exception)
                {
                }
                finally
                {
                    if (stream != null)
                    {
                        stream.Close();
                        stream.Dispose();
                    }
                }
            });
    }

    public static async Task<T> Load<T>(string file)
    {

        IsolatedStorageFile storage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication();
        T obj = Activator.CreateInstance<T>();

        if (storage.FileExists(file))
        {
            IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = null;
            try
            {
                stream = storage.OpenFile(file, FileMode.Open);
                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (T));

                obj = (T) serializer.Deserialize(stream);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
            }
            finally
            {
                if (stream != null)
                {
                    stream.Close();
                    stream.Dispose();
                }
            }
            return obj;
        }
        await obj.Save(file);
        return obj;
    }
}

You can customize the error handling in the catch().

Also, you can adjust the Load method to your needs, in my case I am trying to load from a file and if doesn't exist, it creates a default one and puts the default serialized object of the type provided according to the constructor.

UPDATE :

Let's say you have that list of cars :

List< Car > carlist= new List< Car >();

To save, you can just call them as await carlist.Save("myXML.xml"); , as it is an asynchronous Task(async).

To load, var MyCars = await IsolatedStorageOperations.Load< List< Car> >("myXML.xml"). (I think, I haven't used it like this, as a List so far...

Answer 2

DataContactJsonSerializer performs better than XmlSerializer. It creates smaller files and handles well lists inside properties.