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I've encountered a problem where a small number of data objects stored using a BinaryFormatter are coming back with parameters missing (null/default).

I'd like to know if the missing items were saved as null, or if the objects that were serialized were changed from the versions in source control and then reverted before a code commit (eg int numDogs vs unsigned int dogCount).

The former would represent a serious bug in the data validation code ran before the serialization was done; while the latter is just junk data in a test DB and ignorable.

Since the BinaryFormatter is able to get everything else out when a member is changed, added, or removed I assume it's writing objects in a form similar to a key value store. Is there any way to get a human readable representation of it, without having to try and guess the exact details of the object that was serialized?

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If you implement ISerializable on your objects, you can have a look at what's been serialized by trying to deserialize.

You will need to add a constructor with the same signature as ISerializable.GetObjectData - this is where deserialization occurs.

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The example code in MSDN is for doing non-standard behavior. This site has an example of a conventional implementation: w3mentor.com/learn/asp-dot-net-c-sharp/c-streams/…
the original link in my comment's dead, but it was archived on the Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/web/20170622134922/http://w3mentor.com/learn/…

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