.NET Serializers

UPDATED

As of version 3.5 SP1 (and still true for .NET 4.7.x), .NET comes along with the following serializers:

• BinaryFormatter: binary serializer used in .NET Remoting, type information is included, understands ISerializable; (exists in .NET Core)
• SoapFormatter: SOAP (XML) serializer used in .NET Remoting, includes type information, not portable outside Windows, understands ISerializable;
• DataContractSerializer: XML serializer used in WCF, does not include type information; (exists in .NET Core)
• DataContractJsonSerializer: JSON serializer used in WCF, does not include type information; (exists in .NET Core)
• JavaScriptSerializer: JSON serializer included in System.Web.Extensions.dll;
• NetDataContractSerializer: binary serializer used in WCF, includes type information and is not portable outside Windows systems;
• XmlSerializer: XML serializer used in ASP.NET Web Services (ASMX), type information is not included, understands IXmlSerializable; (exists in .NET Core)
• LosFormatter: uses ObjectStateFormatter internally, does not account by itself;
• ObjectStateFormatter: binary or text (Base64 encoded) serializer used in ASP.NET for storing items in view state, control state and session, type information is included, understands ISerializable.

There isn't, however, a common interface for all of these serializers, and, in fact, they have quite different requirements.

The base classes or interfaces are:

• IFormatter: for BinaryFormatter, SoapFormatter, NetDataContractSerializer and ObjectStateFormatter;
• XmlObjectSerializer: for DataContractSerializer, DataContractJsonSerializer and NetDataContractSerializer;

The interfaces that can be used to control the serialization process are:

• ISerializable: for all the IFormatter serializers;
• IXmlSerializable: for XmlSerializer.

Also, there are a couple of attribute classes that can be used to control the serialization process:

• OptionalFieldAttribute (IFormatter): field may be missing from the serialized content;
• NonSerializedAttribute (IFormatter): field is not serialized;
• SoapAttributeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapElementAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapEnumAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapIgnoreAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapIncludeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapTypeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• SoapDocumentServiceAttribute (XmlSerializer): default format is Document
• SoapRpcServiceAttribute (XmlSerializer): default format is RPC
• SoapRpcMethodAttribute (XmlSerializer): method uses SOAP RPC format
• SoapDocumentMethodAttribute (XmlSerializer): method uses SOAP Document format
• XmlAnyAttributeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlAnyElementAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlArrayAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlArrayItemAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlAttributeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlChoiceIdentifierAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlElementAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlEnumAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlIgnoreAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlIncludeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlRootAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlTextAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlTypeAttribute (XmlSerializer)
• XmlSchemaProviderAttribute (XmlSerializer): applied on a method that returns the XML schema
• CollectionDataContractAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer)
• DataContractAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer): from WCF
• DataMemberAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer): from WCF
• EnumMemberAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer): from WCF
• IgnoreDataMemberAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer): from WCF
• XmlSerializerFormatAttribute (XmlObjectSerializer): choose XmlSerializer instead of DataContractSerializer

Note that the Soap* attributes are only considered if the SoapBindingUse.Encoded is set for the Use property of the binding, in ASP.NET Web Services, otherwise, its the Xml* attributes.

It would be good to see a common interface (perhaps IFormatter, since it's the most common) for all of these serializers.