This interface defines the basic serialization and deserialization functionality for a formatter. Its three properties determine the SerializationBinder, StreamingContext, and SurrogateSelector of the formatter. It also defines the two basic methods of Serialize( ) and Deserialize( ).

public interface IFormatter {
// Public Instance Properties
   public SerializationBinder Binder{set; get; }
   public StreamingContext Context{set; get; }
   public ISurrogateSelector SurrogateSelector{set; get; }
// Public Instance Methods
   public object Deserialize(System.IO.Stream serializationStream);
   public void Serialize(System.IO.Stream serializationStream, object graph);
}

Implemented By

Formatter, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapFormatter