How to write a Dictionary (collection) object to file (VB .Net 2010)

Question

I am attempting to write a Dictionary Collection to a file.

The Collection is structured like so:

GlobalCollection    (Collection of TestCollection)
    (0)
    [KEY]
    [Value]
    - TotalGlobal_W_Count    (Integer)
    - TotalGlobal_I_Count    (Integer)
    - TotalGlobal_F_Count    (Integer)
    TestCollection    (Dictionary - Key, Value)
        (0)
        [KEY]
        [Value]
        - NumberOfTests        (Integer)
        - TestCollectionName    (String)
        - TypesOfTests        (ArrayList)
        ResultsCollection    (Dictionary - Key, Value)
            (0)
            [KEY]
            [Value]
            - TotalFcount    (Integer)
            - TotalIcount    (Integer)
            - TotalWcount    (Integer)
            - ID        (String)
            - TestFolderType(String)
            - TestPassed    (Boolean)
            - FullLog    (Array)
            ResultsCollection    (Dictionary - Key, Value)
                (0)
                [KEY]
                [Value]
                - LineNumber    (Integer)
                - MessageType    (String)
                - ResultString    (String)

I would like to write out all of the above variables to a text file while keeping the hierarchy formatting. (Note there can be number of elements in each collection object)

Thanks!!!

Have you looked into XML Serialization? Check out the XmlSerializer class. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.serialization.xmlserializer.aspx — George Johnston, May 04 '12 at 23:43

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered May 05 '12 at 13:57

4

faster and smaller than xml, if you don't plan to parse/... the serialized file, is to use a BinaryFormater :

Dim MyFormatter As New BinaryFormatter()
Dim MyFile As New FileStream("Serialized.ser", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None)
MyFormatter.Serialize(MyFile, TheObjectIWantToSerialize)
MyFile.Close()

answered May 05 '12 at 13:57

GameAlchemist

18,995
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Thanks for the above, sadly we need formatting... but great answer. – Destroyer May 08 '12 at 01:50
Yes, indeed, GameAlchemist, binary is very fast. (i chose binary for a lot of work, since xml was an option and I learned that if you need speed binary is faster) – Feb 15 '15 at 15:36

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

3

Serialize it to Xml. Here is a StackOverflow question that answers the topic. An especially good read is the link by @John Saunders in the comments.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

Community

1
1

answered May 04 '12 at 23:43

Joel Etherton

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How to write a Dictionary (collection) object to file (VB .Net 2010)

2 Answers2