PostSharp.Community.DeepSerializable

A [Serializable]-like attribute that applies recursively.

If you annotate a class with [DeepSerializable], PostSharp marks it as [Serializable] and it also marks all classes that it references as [Serializable], recursively, for the whole closure. You can use this to mark the top-level class that you want to use binary serialization on as deep-serializable and you don't need to worry about any other classes.

This is an add-in for PostSharp. It modifies your assembly during compilation by using IL weaving.

Example

Your code:

[DeepSerializable]
public class GameState
{
    public Player You { get; set; }
    public Tile[,] Map { get; set; }
}

public class Player 
{
}

public class Tile 
{
}

What gets compiled:

[Serializable] // because it was annotated with [DeepSerializable]
public class GameState
{
    public Player You { get; set; }
    public Tile[,] Map { get; set; }
}

[Serializable] // because it's the type of the property You
public class Player 
{
}

[Serializable] // because it's the inner type of the array that's the type of the property Map
public class Tile 
{
}

Installation

1. Install the NuGet package: PM> Install-Package PostSharp.Community.DeepSerializable
2. Get a free PostSharp Community license at https://www.postsharp.net/essentials
3. When you compile for the first time, you'll be asked to enter the license key.

How to use

Add the [PostSharp.Community.DeepSerializable.DeepSerializableAttribute] to the class that you want to use binary serialization on. You can also use multicasting and inheritance.

Limitations

• DeepSerializable works in the current project. If a deep-serializable object has a dependency on a type declared in a different assembly, it will not be fully serializable.

• Even if you make a base class deep-serializable, subclasses that inherit from that base class won't be serializable unless they're also annotated with [Serializable] or [DeepSerializable].

Copyright notices

Published under the MIT license.

• Copyright © PostSharp Technologies
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