Convert an object to a byte array in C#, send it over a socket, then convert back into object

Question

So I have a server and a client that communicate various data back and fourth. Initially I had a complicated method that went through the byte array and converted all of its variables and strings, one by one, into what they were supposed to be. I learned I could put all of the variables into an object and convert it to a byte array using

private static byte[] ObjectToByteArray2(Object obj)
    {
        if (obj == null)
            return null;
        BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
        MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
        bf.Serialize(ms, obj);
        return ms.ToArray();
    }

And convert it back using

private static Object ByteArrayToObject(byte[] arrBytes)
    {
        MemoryStream memStream = new MemoryStream();
        BinaryFormatter binForm = new BinaryFormatter();
        memStream.Write(arrBytes, 0, arrBytes.Length);
        memStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        Object obj = (Object)binForm.Deserialize(memStream);
        return obj;
    }

The problem is, once I send this byte array across the network to another application, I can't just use this method to convert it back, I get the error "Unable to find assembly 'test1s, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'." test1s is just the name of the little server program I made to play with this. Obviously the application needs some extra information to convert this array back into an object, so is there any way I can do this, or am I going about the problem wrong?

What I want to accomplish here is have an object of nothing but several variables and strings, convert it to a byte array, send it to another application, and convert it back into the object. This way I don't have to play with the byte array to extract all of my variables and strings.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are a myriad of pre-rolled serialization libraries that will help here. BinaryFormatter has some (IMO) undesirable features here - in particular it will only work with the exact same (well, pretty much) dll at both ends.

XmlSerializer, DataContractSerializer and JavaScriptSerializer are good text-based implementations, and will work fine with a compatible contract at both ends (same properties etc - not necessarily the same type/version).

If you have moderate bandwidth needs, or need better CPU performance I would recommend protobuf-net (caveat: I wrote it) which is a fast binary serializer that may help.

Answer 2

This will work if both sides of the communication channel have a reference to exactly the same assembly and exactly the same version of that assembly, either referenced from the program somehow or living in the GAC.

If you want a mechanism more tolerant of version mismatches, consider using XMLSerializer instead (but note that addition/removal/changes in fields/properties may result in incorrect behavior if versions don't match up).

If a compact format is required, you might consider looking at Google Protocol Buffers.