Bend the .NET Object to your Will!

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;

namespace CodeProject.Batte.ObjectMastery
{
	/*
	 * StringExtensions.cs
	 * Author: John Batte
	 * Last Modified: 1/5/2009
	 * See http://www.codeproject.com/info/cpol10.aspx for license details
	 */

	/// <summary>
	/// Provides object serialization extensions for strings.
	/// </summary>
	public static class StringExtensions
	{
		/// <summary>
		/// Converts the string to an object instance
		/// of the specified type.  Assumes that the string
		/// was created using object.ToBinaryString().
		/// </summary>
		/// <typeparam name="T">The type to convert to.</typeparam>
		/// <param name="serializedObject">The string.</param>
		/// <returns>The converted object instance.</returns>
		public static T ToObject<T>(this string serializedObject)
		{
			var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
			var stream = new MemoryStream(Convert.FromBase64String(serializedObject));

			var graph = formatter.Deserialize(stream) as ObjectGraph;

			return graph == null ? default(T) : (T) graph.CreateInstance(true);
		}
	}
}