Serializing .NET dictionary [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Serialize Class containing Dictionary member

Can I serialize a Dictionary?

Answer 1

Which serialization API?

For example, DataContractSerializer can handle dictionaries, especially with the (optional) [CollectionDataContract] markup. protobuf-net will handle them (below). Others may not...

    var data = new Dictionary<string, int>();
    data.Add("abc", 123);
    data.Add("def", 456);

    var clone = Serializer.DeepClone(data);
    Console.WriteLine(clone["abc"]);
    Console.WriteLine(clone["def"]);

As will BinaryFormatter:

    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
        var bf = new BinaryFormatter();
        bf.Serialize(ms, data);
        ms.Position = 0;
        clone = (Dictionary<string, int>) bf.Deserialize(ms);
    }