I felt a like I needed to share this manipulated code to the accepted answer - as I have no reputation, I'm unable to comment..
using System;using System.Xml.Serialization;using System.IO;namespace ObjectSerialization{ public static class ObjectSerialization { // THIS: (C): https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2434534/serialize-an-object-to-string /// <summary> /// A helper to serialize an object to a string containing XML data of the object. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T">An object to serialize to a XML data string.</typeparam> /// <param name="toSerialize">A helper method for any type of object to be serialized to a XML data string.</param> /// <returns>A string containing XML data of the object.</returns> public static string SerializeObject<T>(this T toSerialize) { // create an instance of a XmlSerializer class with the typeof(T).. XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(toSerialize.GetType()); // using is necessary with classes which implement the IDisposable interface.. using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter()) { // serialize a class to a StringWriter class instance.. xmlSerializer.Serialize(stringWriter, toSerialize); // a base class of the StringWriter instance is TextWriter.. return stringWriter.ToString(); // return the value.. } } // THIS: (C): VPKSoft, 2018, https://www.vpksoft.net /// <summary> /// Deserializes an object which is saved to an XML data string. If the object has no instance a new object will be constructed if possible. /// <note type="note">An exception will occur if a null reference is called an no valid constructor of the class is available.</note> /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T">An object to deserialize from a XML data string.</typeparam> /// <param name="toDeserialize">An object of which XML data to deserialize. If the object is null a a default constructor is called.</param> /// <param name="xmlData">A string containing a serialized XML data do deserialize.</param> /// <returns>An object which is deserialized from the XML data string.</returns> public static T DeserializeObject<T>(this T toDeserialize, string xmlData) { // if a null instance of an object called this try to create a "default" instance for it with typeof(T), // this will throw an exception no useful constructor is found.. object voidInstance = toDeserialize == null ? Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T)) : toDeserialize; // create an instance of a XmlSerializer class with the typeof(T).. XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(voidInstance.GetType()); // construct a StringReader class instance of the given xmlData parameter to be deserialized by the XmlSerializer class instance.. using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xmlData)) { // return the "new" object deserialized via the XmlSerializer class instance.. return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(stringReader); } } // THIS: (C): VPKSoft, 2018, https://www.vpksoft.net /// <summary> /// Deserializes an object which is saved to an XML data string. /// </summary> /// <param name="toDeserialize">A type of an object of which XML data to deserialize.</param> /// <param name="xmlData">A string containing a serialized XML data do deserialize.</param> /// <returns>An object which is deserialized from the XML data string.</returns> public static object DeserializeObject(Type toDeserialize, string xmlData) { // create an instance of a XmlSerializer class with the given type toDeserialize.. XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(toDeserialize); // construct a StringReader class instance of the given xmlData parameter to be deserialized by the XmlSerializer class instance.. using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xmlData)) { // return the "new" object deserialized via the XmlSerializer class instance.. return xmlSerializer.Deserialize(stringReader); } } }}