What is a DataContract?

A data contract is a formal agreement between a service and a client that abstractly describes the data to be exchanged. That is, to communicate, the client and the service do not have to share the same types, only the same data contracts.

Is DataContract mandatory in WCF?

No, the DataContractAttribute is not required – WCF will infer serialization rules.

What is DataContract serializer?

DataContractSerializer(Type, IEnumerable) Initializes a new instance of the DataContractSerializer class to serialize or deserialize an object of the specified type, and a collection of known types that may be present in the object graph.

What is DataContract Attribute in C#?

[DataContract] attribute specifies the data, which is to serialize (in short conversion of structured data into some format like Binary, XML etc.) and deserialize(opposite of serialization) in order to exchange between the client and the Service.

What is system runtime serialization?

Contains classes that can be used for serializing and deserializing objects. Serialization is the process of converting an object or a graph of objects into a linear sequence of bytes for either storage or transmission to another location.

What is data contract serialization in WCF?

WCF uses a serialization engine called the Data Contract Serializer by default to serialize and deserialize data. We can also explicitly create a data contract by using DataContractAttribute and DataMemberAttribute attributes. This attribute can be applied to classes, structures, and enumerations.

What is serialization in WCF?

The process forms a sequence of bytes into a logical object; this is called an encoding process. At runtime when WCF receives the logical message, it transforms them back into corresponding . Net objects. This process is called serialization.

Is DataMember attribute required?

DataMember attribute is not mandatory to add to serialize data. When DataMember attribute is not added, old XMLSerializer serializes the data. Adding a DataMember provides useful properties like order, name, isrequired which cannot be used otherwise.

What is the use of DataMember?

Data Member are the fields or properties of your Data Contract class. You must specify [DataMember] attribute on the property or the field of your Data Contract class to identify it as a Data Member. DataContractSerializer will serialize only those members, which are annotated by [DataMemeber] attribute.

Where is system runtime serialization DLL?

Runtime. Serialization” keywords. In my case this dll is situated into the folder “C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.