Is there such thing as a CSV Serializer? (similar to XmlSerializer)

Question

I am toying around with serializing and deserializing CSV files and I am wondering if there is an existing library, similar in concept to the XmlSerializer, which can declaratively define objects and (de)serialize them to/from a file or stream. I have looked around a bit but have not found anything focused on serialization. I already have pretty solid code for parsing CSV documents per RFC 4180, but what would be really helpful is the serialization part. What I am not looking for is just a parser, advice to use String.Split(), etc.

Is there an existing project out there, or should I build one?

Bonus etiquette question: if I do end up rolling my own serializer, is it appropriate to answer this question with a link to the codeplex project?

Answer 1

I would highly recommend servicestack.text for this purpose. Avialable on nuget:

Install-package servicestack.text

It suports serialization to many data formats and unlike the built in XmlSerializer, you don't need to decorate all your properties with attributes. Here's an example to serialize to CSV.

using ServiceStack.Text;
...

var csv = CsvSerializer.SerializeToCsv(new[]{
    new Dog () {
    Bark = "Woof!",
    Male = true,
    Size = 10
}});