Serialize using DataContractSerializer

In the past I had couple of posts about serialization - this and this. Recently, came across a need that required to serialize an object that is not public - wanted to serialize an internal class. This could be done using good old reflection techniques but thanks to 3.0/3.5 framework, the solution lies in using DataContractSerializer.

Let's get to the code - quite simple:

using System.Runtime.Serialization;

/// <summary>
/// Serialize using DataContractSerializer
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
internal string Serialize(Object obj)
{
   StringBuilder serialXML = new StringBuilder();
   DataContractSerializer dcSerializer = new DataContractSerializer(obj.GetType());
   using (XmlWriter xWriter = XmlWriter.Create(serialXML))
   {
       dcSerializer.WriteObject(xWriter, obj);
       xWriter.Flush();
       return serialXML.ToString();
   }
}

Love coding!