.NET Binary Serializer

This project contains two binary serializer implementations and supporting tests: CompiledBinarySerializer and ReflectionBinarySerializer. Both implementations are compatible with each other and serialize to the format specified in the schema;

Compiled Binary Serializer

This implementations creates serialization and deserialization methods at runtime using System.Reflection.Emit.DynamicMethod; these methods are then cached for higher performance (compared to traditional reflection-only methods). This implementation is the main focus of this repository.

When calling Serialize or Deserialize the relevant methods are created for the types that are being de/serialized; alternatively RegisterSerialize and RegisterDeserialize can be called in advance (e.g. at start-up) to create the relevant methods.

Examples

Serialization

using BinarySerializer;
//...
using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
    var data = new List<DateTime>()
    {
        DateTime.Now,
        new DateTime(1970, 1, 1)
    };

    var serializer = new CompiledBinarySerializer();
    serializer.Serialize(data, stream);
}

Deserialization

using BinarySerializer;
//...
using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
    var serializer = new CompiledBinarySerializer();
    var data = serializer.Deserialize<List<DateTime>>(stream);
}

Type Registration

using BinarySerializer;
//...
var serializer = new CompiledBinarySerializer();
serializer.RegisterSerialize<List<DateTime>>();
serializer.RegisterSerialize(typeof(List<DateTime>));

serializer.RegisterDeserialize<List<DateTime>>();
serializer.RegisterDeserialize(typeof(List<DateTime>));

Reflection Binary Serializer

This implementation was created first due to its easier and faster development time, it was then used to test the CompiledBinarySerializer implementation. Performance isn't a concern for this implementation and it's unlikely to have any further development other than to implement future tests.

Examples

Serialization

using BinarySerializer;
//...
using(var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
    var data = new List<DateTime>()
    {
        DateTime.Now,
        new DateTime(1970, 1, 1)
    };

    var serializer = new ReflectionBinarySerializer();
    serializer.Serialize(data, stream);
}

Deserialization

using BinarySerializer;
//...
using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
    var serializer = new ReflectionBinarySerializer();
    var data = serializer.Deserialize<List<DateTime>>(stream);
}

Future Development

• Add attributes to explicitly set which fields will be serialized and serialization order.
• Add support for multi-dimension arrays. Currently only jagged arrays are supported.
• Improve performance for struct in CompiledBinarySerializer. DynamicMethod doesn't support ref parameters or ref return so there's always a copy of the struct when de/serializing. This can be resolved by either in-lining the de/serialization or using pointers.
• Create a Roslyn source generator that follows the schema. This will allow for compile time stability assertions, but is limited to primitives, arrays, and user defined types.