ADO.NET Cookbook

5.5. Deserializing Data

Problem

You have a DataSet that has been serialized and written to a file. You want to recreate the DataSet from this file.

Solution

Use the serializer object’s Deserialize( ) method and cast the result as a DataSet.

The sample code loads a file stream containing a previously serialized DataSet in a specified format and deserializes it to recreate the original DataSet.

The C# code is shown in Example 5-5.

Example 5-5. File: DeserializeForm.cs

// Namespaces, variables, and constants using System; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.IO; using System.Data; using System.Runtime.Serialization; using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters; using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary; using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap; using System.Xml.Serialization; private OpenFileDialog ofd; // . . . private void goButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create and open the stream for deserializing. Stream stream = null; try { stream = File.Open(fileNameTextBox.Text, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read); } catch(Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Deserializing Data", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); return; } // Deserialize the DataSet from the stream. DataSet ds = null; try { if (xmlReadRadioButton.Checked) { ds = new DataSet( ); ds.ReadXml(stream); } else if (xmlSerializerRadioButton.Checked) { XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(DataSet)); ds = (DataSet)xs.Deserialize(stream); } else if(soapRadioButton.Checked) ...