Question

I have a 2D array that I need to be able to convert to a string representation and back to array format. I would like to create a generci method that will handle any array 1d, 2d, 3d etc. so I can reuse the method in future.

What is the best way of going about this?

string[,] _array = new string[_helpTextItemNames.Count, 2];

Answer 1

If you do not care to much about the structure of the string then the SoapFormatter is an option. Here is a quick and dirty example. Not pretty but it might work for you.

public static class Helpers
{    
  public static string ObjectToString(Array ar)
  {      
    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
      SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();
      formatter.Serialize(ms, ar);
      return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(ms.ToArray());
    }
  }

  public static object ObjectFromString(string s)
  {
    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(s)))
    {
      SoapFormatter formatter = new SoapFormatter();
      return formatter.Deserialize(ms) as Array;
    }
  }

  public static T ObjectFromString<T>(string s)
  {
    return (T)Helpers.ObjectFromString(s);
  }
}

These helpers can be used to transform any Serializable object to a string, including arrays, as long as the elements of the array are serializable.

  // Serialize a 1 dimensional array to a string format
  char[] ar = { '1', '2', '3' };
  Console.WriteLine(Helpers.ObjectToString(ar));

  // Serialize a 2 dimensional array to a string format
  char[,] ar2 = {{ '1', '2', '3' },{ 'a', 'b', 'c' }};
  Console.WriteLine(Helpers.ObjectToString(ar2));

  // Deserialize an array from the string format
  char[,] ar3 = Helpers.ObjectFromString(Helpers.ObjectToString(ar2)) as char[,];
  char[,] ar4 = Helpers.ObjectFromString<char[,]>(Helpers.ObjectToString(ar2));