Question

I’m using : boito = Serializer.DeSerializeObject("XOPC.xml"); with try catch.

so here is method :

   public static ObjectToSerialize DeSerializeObject(string filename)
   {
      ObjectToSerialize objectToSerialize;
      Stream stream = File.Open(filename, FileMode.Open);
      BinaryFormatter bFormatter = new BinaryFormatter();
      objectToSerialize = (ObjectToSerialize)bFormatter.Deserialize(stream);
      stream.Close();
      return objectToSerialize;
   }

I had changed structure and it’s failing to DeSerialize this file but on next step when I’m trying to serialize it again I’m getting error : “This file is using by another process” and I can’t access it.

So how to stop using file after error in deserialization ?

Answer 1

You’re not closing the stream if an exception is thrown. Use a using statement:

using (Stream stream = File.Open(filename, FileMode.Open))
{
    BinaryFormatter bFormatter = new BinaryFormatter();
    return (ObjectToSerialize) bFormatter.Deserialize(stream);
}

This is equivalent to disposing of the stream in a finally block.

This isn’t just about deserialization – you should (almost¹) always use using statements for unmanaged resources. Any explicit call to Close or Dispose (outside a Dispose implementation merely releasing composed resources) is suspicious.

---

¹ Very occasionally you want to leave a resource open on success, but close it if something else fails. This is rare and awkward.