---
title:  Data Serialization &ndash; .NET
---

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All data moving out of the client cache must be serializable.


  - <%=vars.product_name%> Portable Data eXchange (PDX) serialization
  - `DataSerializable` interface serialization

The `DataSerializable` interface can be a good option performance-wise if the size of your objects
is small, but do not as readily support code that executes on the server, such as queries and functions.

Each of these serialization methods provides two options:

  - PDXSerializable / DataSerializable for objects under your control, that is, objects you can modify to incorporate their own serialization and deserialization code
  - PDXSerializer / DataSerializer for objects not under your control, that is, objects for which serialization and deserialization must be specified separately from the objects themselves.

For .NET, a reflection-based autoserialization option is also available, but it is limited to cases in which the objects being serialized (a) contain no transient state and (b) are composed only of primitive types.


# .NET Data Serialization Options

The .NET client API provides an option not available to the C++ API, as .NET objects are capable of reflection.
The recommended choice is iPDXSerializable.

With reflection-based autoserialization, built-in .NET types are serialized automatically into the
cache and can be retrieved by <%=vars.product_name%> servers and other <%=vars.product_name%> clients. For domain
objects that are not simple types, you have three <%=vars.product_name%> serialization options.

  - The simplest option is to use automatic serialization by registering the <%=vars.product_name%> .NET PDX
reflection-based autoserializer in your application. When you have this registered, <%=vars.product_name%> uses it
for all domain objects that are not custom serialized.

  - You can custom serialize your objects by implementing the <%=vars.product_name%> `IDataSerializable` .NET interface.

  - You also have the option of using default .NET serialization, but you cannot use it unless you also
use helper classes. The helper classes you must use are `CacheableObject` and `CacheableObjectXml`.