Marshalling For Remote Persistence

/* Tetyana Loskutova http://tetyana.wordpress.com */
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.Collections;

/* 
 * Proxy object. Transfers a list over the network
 * and stores it as an XML file.
 */
namespace RemotingXml.PersistentClasses
{
    public class XmlHandler: MarshalByRefObject
    {
        private const string Extension = ".xml";
        // list of remote objects
        private IList _persistentObjects;

        public IList PersistentObjects
        {
            get { return _persistentObjects; }
            set { _persistentObjects = value; }
        }
        // end PersistentObject


        public void StoreData()
        {
            // Serialize object list to xml
            System.Console.WriteLine("persistentObjects " + _persistentObjects.Count);
            if (_persistentObjects.Count > 0)
            {
                // define the object type
                object persistentObject = _persistentObjects[0];
                XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(_persistentObjects.GetType());
                
                // delete the old file and create a new one
                string filename = persistentObject.GetType().Name + Extension;
                File.Delete(filename);
                StreamWriter xmlWriter = new StreamWriter(filename);
                // serialize object list
                serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, _persistentObjects);
                xmlWriter.Close();
            }
        }
        // end StoreData


        public IList RetrieveData(Type arrayType, Type objectType)
        {
            // Compose the file name
            string filename = objectType.Name + Extension;
            // deserialize
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(arrayType);
            FileStream xmlFileStream = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open);
            IList objects = (IList)serializer.Deserialize(xmlFileStream);
            xmlFileStream.Close();
            return objects;
        }
        // end RetrieveData
    }
}