Microsoft Docs

FormatterServices Class

The System.Runtime.Serialization.FormatterServices class provides a set of static methods that can be used by serialization and deserialization processes to assist with the construction of objects, extraction of member data, and other low‑level operations.

Namespace: System.Runtime.Serialization

Assembly: mscorlib.dll

Syntax

public static class FormatterServices

Members

Example

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

[Serializable]
public class Person
{
    public string Name;
    public int Age;
    private string Secret = "hidden";
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Person p = new Person { Name = "Alice", Age = 30 };
        // Serialize fields manually
        FieldInfo[] fields = FormatterServices.GetSerializableMembers(typeof(Person));
        object[] data = FormatterServices.GetObjectData(p, fields);
        // Create a new instance without calling constructor
        Person clone = (Person)FormatterServices.GetUninitializedObject(typeof(Person));
        FormatterServices.PopulateObjectMembers(clone, fields, data);
        Console.WriteLine($"{clone.Name}, {clone.Age}");
    }
}

See Also

• Serialization Overview
• BinaryFormatter Class
• DataContractSerializer Class