Binary Serialization and Custom Collections

[arcanine]

Okay, I've finally figured out how to deserialize my custom collection. I don't know if this is how it's supposed to be done, but it works. Here is the code:

    Protected Sub New(ByVal info As SerializationInfo, ByVal context As StreamingContext)
        ' retrieve the count from the file
        Dim iCnt As Integer = info.GetInt32("FGSDataCount")

        ' get each of the items from the file based on the count
        For i As Integer = 0 To iCnt - 1
            Me.Add(info.GetValue("FGSData" & i.ToString, GetType(FGSData)))
        Next
    End Sub

    Public Sub GetObjectData(ByVal info As SerializationInfo, ByVal context As StreamingContext) Implements ISerializable.GetObjectData
        ' store the count to the file
        info.AddValue("FGSDataCount", Me.Count)

        ' iterate through each item and add it to the file
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.Count - 1
            info.AddValue("FGSData" & i.ToString, Me.Item(i))
        Next
    End Sub

So, first I save the collection count to the file. Then, I iterate through the list of items in the collection, and add each one to the file, giving each a unique name (based on position in list). Then when I want to deserialize the file, I first retrieve the count from the file. Then, I loop from 0 to count and using the unique name, I add each item back to my collection.