Serialization

Serialization is the process of saving and retrieving the Essential Diagram file. Essential Diagram Silverlight supports saving the diagram page as an XAML file. The page and all its properties get saved. On loading, the page gets loaded in the current view with all its nodes and connections. This load and save feature allows the user to save their diagram page for future use. The users can continue working on their page by loading the appropriate XAML file.

Methods:

Name	Parameters	Return Type	Description	Reference Links
Save()	Null	Void	Displays the Save Dialogue Box to save the DiagramPage into xaml file	Save Diagram Page
Save(string)	String	Void	Saves the DiagramPage into xaml file whose file name is specified.	Save Diagram Page
Save(Stream)	System.IO.Stream	Void	Saves the DiagramPage into memory stream	Save Diagram Page
Load()	Null	Void	Displays the Load Dialogue Box to load the DiagramPage from the selected xaml file	Load Diagram Page
Load(string)	String	Void	Loads the DiagramPage from the file name mentioned.	Load Diagram Page
Load()	System.IO.Stream	Void	Loads the DiagramPage from the memory stream	Load Diagram Page

This process is explained in the following topic:

Save Diagram Page

The Save operation can be done in three ways:

• Using the Save Dialog Box.
• File name with full path.
• Using Memory Stream

Using the Save Dialog Box.

To save the page, the following code can be used.

c#

DiagramControl dc = new DiagramControl();

dc.Save();

vbnet

Dim dc As New DiagramControl()

dc.Save()

The Save Dialog box will appear. Select the ‘Save as Type’ as XAML and select the location at
which the file is to be saved and click the save button in the dialog box after specifying
a name for the file.

Save Dialog Box

File name with path

The user can also specify the name of the file directly in the Save method.

c#

DiagramControl dc = new DiagramControl();

dc.Save(@"C:\TestPage.xaml");

vbnet

Dim dc As New DiagramControl()

dc.Save("C:\TestPage.xaml")

NOTE

Essential Diagram Silverlight does not support serializing bindings and bitmap Images.

Saving to a stream

The user can also save to a stream.

The following code snippet shows how it can be done.

c#

DiagramControl dc = new DiagramControl();

System.IO.MemoryStream stream = new System.IO.MemoryStream();

dc.Save(stream as System.IO.Stream);

vbnet

Dim dc As New DiagramControl()

Dim stream As New System.IO.MemoryStream()

dc.Save(TryCast(stream, System.IO.Stream))

Loading the Diagram Page

The Load operation can be done in three ways:

• Using the Load Dialog Box.
• File name with full path.
• Using Memory Stream

Loading using the Load Dialog Box.

To load the page, the following code can be used:

c#

DiagramControl dc = new DiagramControl();

dc.Load();

vbnet

Dim dc As New DiagramControl()

dc.Load()

1.The Load Dialog box will appear. Select the ‘Files of Type’ as XAML and specify the path of the file to be loaded

2.Click the Open button in the dialog box.

The selected page gets loaded in the current view and the page is ready to be edited.

Load Dialog Box

File name with path

The user can also specify the name of the file directly in the Load method.

c#

DiagramControl dc = new DiagramControl();

dc.Load(@"C:\TestPage.xaml");

vbnet

Dim dc As New DiagramControl()

dc.Load("C:\TestPage.xaml")

NOTE

Essential Diagram Silverlight does not support serializing bindings and bitmap Images.

Loading from a stream

The user can also load from a stream.

To load from the stream, use the following code snippet.

c#

stream.Position = 0;

dc.Load(stream as System.IO.Stream);

vbnet

stream.Position = 0

dc.Load(TryCast(stream, System.IO.Stream))

NOTE

While loading from memory stream, please make sure the stream’s Position property is set to 0.