protobuf-net

protobuf-net is a free-to-use tool that helps programmers create .NET projects easily. It’s designed to serialize data using the "protocol buffers" format, which Google created. The cool thing is, it uses a different API that fits well with regular .NET patterns.

Supported Platforms

This serializer works on many .NET platforms! You can use it with .NET Framework versions 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5. It also supports .NET Compact Framework versions 2.0 and 3.5, Mono 2.x, and even Microsoft Silverlight 2.

Configuration Made Easy

When using protobuf-net, you need to define contract types clearly. This means you’ll be working with some special attributes like [DataContract], [ProtoContract], or [XmlType]. Out of these options, [ProtoContract] gives you more control because it acts as a library-specific attribute.

Control Your Serialization

The tool has some neat features for managing how data gets serialized and deserialized:

• SkipConstructor: This stops the type's constructor from running during deserialization temporarily.


• UseProtomembersOnly: This one ignores members that aren’t marked with [ProtoMember] in a multi-attribute type.


• IgnoreListHandling: This applies instance rules instead of list rules, even if the type looks like a list.

Tutorials and Resources

If you're curious about contract types or want to learn more about members, inheritance, enums, callbacks, and identifiers, there are great resources available! You can find tutorials and examples on data serialization and deserialization written in C#. Just head over to the developer's website for all the details!

Download protobuf-net now!