serialization - C# - How to xml deserialize object itself?

Question

public class Options
    {
        public FolderOption FolderOption { set; get; }

        public Options()
        {
            FolderOption = new FolderOption();
        }


        public void Save()
        {
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Options));
            TextWriter textWriter = new StreamWriter(@"C:Options.xml");
            serializer.Serialize(textWriter, this);
            textWriter.Close();
        }

        public void Read()
        {
            XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Options));
            TextReader textReader = new StreamReader(@"C:Options.xml");
            //this = (Options)deserializer.Deserialize(textReader);
            textReader.Close();

        }
    }
}

I managed to Save without problem, all members of FolderOption are deserialized. But the problem is how to read it back? The line - //this = (Options)deserializer.Deserialize(textReader); won't work.

Edit: Any solution to this problem? Can we achieve the same purpose without assigning to this? That is deserialize Options object back into Option. I am lazy to do it property by property. Performing on the highest level would save of lot of effort.

Answer 1

Build your .Read() method as a static function that returns the read object:

public static Options Read(string path)
{
    XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Options));
    using (TextReader textReader = new StreamReader(path))
    {
        return (Options)deserializer.Deserialize(textReader);
    }
}

Then change your calling code so rather than something like this:

Options myOptions = new Options();
myOptions.Read(@"C:Options.xml");

You do something like this:

Options myOptions = Options.Read(@"C:Options.xml");

The nice difference is that it's impossible to ever have an Options object that doesn't have some data behind it.