.NET & XML

When to Use Serialization

In general, you should consider using XML serialization when your application requires data to be exchanged between possibly disparate systems, whose only commonality might be the ability to read and write XML. Although this case covers XML serialization in general, it’s also important to determine which form of serialization to use.

Simple XML serialization is appropriate when you have an existing XML schema (whether a formal W3C XML Schema or simply an agreed-upon format) and wish to read the data into an object; or when you have existing objects and wish to produce a representation of their data in an XML format. These cases usually involve non-interactive data exchange; that is, data is being exchanged, but not in a Web Services context.

On the other hand, you should use SOAP serialization when you know that your data exchange partner supports it, or when you are designing a new distributed application that requires interactive data exchange.

Finally, you should consider runtime serialization when the communication is happening between two .NET applications.