Serialize objects into XML strings

If you want to serialize objects directly into strings without the need of a FileStream object or any stream object, the StringReader and StringWriter classes will come in handy. Assume you want to serialize a List of integers, you may do the serialization and deserialization as this:

[C#]

public static string DataSerialize(List<int> myList)
{
    StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
    XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(myList.GetType());
    s.Serialize(sw, myList);
    return sw.ToString();
}

public static List<int> DataDeserialize(string data)
{
    XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<int>));
    List<int> newList = (List<int>)xs.Deserialize(new StringReader(data));
    return newList;
} 

[VB.NET]

Public Shared Function DataSerialize(ByVal myList As List(Of int)) As String
    Dim sw As StringWriter = New StringWriter()
    Dim s As New XmlSerializer(myList.GetType())
    s.Serialize(sw, myList)
    Return sw.ToString()
End Function

Public Shared Function DataDeserialize(ByVal data As String) As List(Of int)
    Dim xs As New XmlSerializer(GetType(List(Of int)))
    Dim newList As List(Of int) = CType(xs.Deserialize(New StringReader(data)), List(Of int))
    Return newList
End Function