Easyest way to approach saving structures?

[Kasracer]

I need to save a structure. Unfortunately, BinaryFormatters and Serializors don't exist in the compact frame work.

What would be the easyest way to save and then load to and from a file?

I don't know Xml and all the Xml serialization examples I have seen seem overly complicated.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Frankly, I think a text file would be the easiest. There is no security at all there (though you could encrypt the info), but streamwriters/readers are supported by the CF. If you write each element on a single line, then you can read it back in in the same order. Encapsulating the reading and writing in a single class would make it fairly easy to work with.

Here's a class I wrote to do something like that. It was written in haste, and may not be all that efficient, but it works.

This class opens a file with the name passed into the constructor. It then
'either writes or reads one item to it for each write/read item call.
'This Class assumes the file will be located in the AppPath() folder.
Public Class FileDataStorePDA
    Private fileName As String
    Private bisValid As Boolean
    Private readValid As Boolean
    Private sWriter As System.IO.StreamWriter
    Private sReader As System.IO.StreamReader
    Private clearFlag As Boolean
 
#Region "Constructors and Destructors"
    Public Sub New(ByVal st1 As String)
        st1 = AppPath() & "\" & st1
 
        Try
            sWriter = System.IO.File.AppendText(st1)
            bisValid = True
            fileName = st1
            clearFlag = False
        Catch ex As Exception
            bisValid = False
            clearFlag = True
        End Try
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub Dispose()
        Try
            sReader.Close()
        Catch ex As Exception
            'Nothing needs to be done here.
        End Try
 
        Try
            sWriter.Close()
        Catch ex As Exception
            'Nothing needs to be done here, either.
        End Try
    End Sub
#End Region
 
#Region "Public"
    Public Function WriteItem(ByVal st1 As String) As Boolean
        If bisValid Then
            If clearFlag Then
                clearFlag = False
                sWriter.Close()
                System.IO.File.Delete(fileName)
                sWriter = System.IO.File.AppendText(fileName)
            End If
            sWriter.WriteLine(st1)
            WriteItem = True
        Else
            If readValid Then
                Try
                    sReader.Close()
                    If clearFlag Then
                        clearFlag = False
                        System.IO.File.Delete(fileName)
                    End If
                    sWriter = System.IO.File.AppendText(fileName)
                    sWriter.WriteLine(st1)
                    WriteItem = True
                Catch ex As Exception
                    'Don't know if I really want this to do anything.
                    WriteItem = False
                Finally
                    readValid = False
                    bisValid = True
                End Try
            Else
                WriteItem = False
            End If
        End If
    End Function
 
    Public Function ClearFile()
        clearFlag = True
    End Function
 
    Public Function ReadItem() As String
        If readValid Then
            Try
                ReadItem = sReader.ReadLine
                If ReadItem Is Nothing Then
                    ReadItem = ""
                End If
            Catch ex As Exception
                MsgBox("A problem occurred with reading the file:" & vbNewLine & ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Problem")
                ReadItem = ""
            End Try
        Else
            If bisValid Then
                Try
                    sWriter.Close()
                    sReader = New System.IO.StreamReader(fileName, System.Text.Encoding.ASCII)
                    ReadItem = sReader.ReadLine
                    readValid = True
                Catch ex As Exception
                    MsgBox("Can't read item:" & vbNewLine & ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "Problem Reading")
                    ReadItem = ""
                    readValid = False
                Finally
                    'Invalidate the reading, anyways.
                    readValid = True
                    bisValid = False
                End Try
            End If
        End If
    End Function
 
    Public Function CanRead() As Boolean
        CanRead = readValid
    End Function
 
    Public Function CanWrite() As Boolean
        CanWrite = bisValid
    End Function
 
#End Region
 
#Region "Private"
    'The function that gets the path of the application.
    Private Function AppPath()
        AppPath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Reflection.Assembly.GetCallingAssembly.GetName.CodeBase.ToString)
    End Function
#End Region
 
End Class