FrancineTaylor
asked on
Best way to save a generic list of custom objects
I've got a class which contains a list of classes, which in turn contain lists of classes. I'm looking for the cleanest way to simply save and retrieve the objects. There is a wealth of code out there, using Xmlserialize, a BinaryFormatter, conversion to XML...I'm a bit overloaded with information.
Here's an example of my code.
public class cParent {
public List<cChild> children;
public string firstname;
public string lastname;
public cParent() {
}
}
public class cChild {
public List<cToy> toys;
public List<cChild> friends;
public string firstname;
public DateTime bday;
public bool male;
public cChild() {
}
}
public class cToy {
eToyType ttype;
public cToy() {
}
}
public enum eToyType {
doll, book, weapon, game, sports
}
So, given the classes above, if I have a list of parent objects:
List<cParent> parents = SomeFunctionCreatingTheObj ects();
...if I want to simply save the parent objects to a file, what is the best way to do it? And what modifications do I need to make to the classes (such as the [Serialize] attribute, XmlRoot/XmlElement, etc). And then how do I retrieve them?
Here's an example of my code.
public class cParent {
public List<cChild> children;
public string firstname;
public string lastname;
public cParent() {
}
}
public class cChild {
public List<cToy> toys;
public List<cChild> friends;
public string firstname;
public DateTime bday;
public bool male;
public cChild() {
}
}
public class cToy {
eToyType ttype;
public cToy() {
}
}
public enum eToyType {
doll, book, weapon, game, sports
}
So, given the classes above, if I have a list of parent objects:
List<cParent> parents = SomeFunctionCreatingTheObj
...if I want to simply save the parent objects to a file, what is the best way to do it? And what modifications do I need to make to the classes (such as the [Serialize] attribute, XmlRoot/XmlElement, etc). And then how do I retrieve them?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.