Hi Jerrrey,

Thanks for the reply. I already have the serialize working great, and here
is the code that I am using (in VB I am afraid!)

Protected Overrides Sub PerformFlush(ByVal serializationManager As
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.IDesignerSerializationManager)
       ' create Code Document Object Model Serializer to get code statements
       Dim codeDOM As CodeDomSerializer =
serializationManager.GetSerializer(GetType(IDesignerHost),
GetType(CodeDomSerializer))
       ' get code statement collection from the serializer
       Dim codeStatementCollection As CodeStatementCollection =
codeDOM.Serialize(serializationManager, _host.RootComponent)
       csc = codeStatementCollection
       ' create vb provider to translate statements into VB text
       Dim vbProvider As Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider = New
Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider
       ' test writer
       Dim writer As New System.IO.StreamWriter("C:\Test.txt")
       writer.AutoFlush = True
       ' loop through each statement, and write to the text writer
       For Each s As CodeDom.CodeStatement In codeStatementCollection
           vbProvider.GenerateCodeFromStatement(s, writer, New
System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeGeneratorOptions)
       Next
       writer.Close()
   End Sub

When trying to deserialize, I have the following code so far.

Protected Overrides Sub PerformLoad(ByVal serializationManager As
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.IDesignerSerializationManager)
       ' read the VB text file
       Dim reader As New System.IO.StreamReader("C:\Test.txt")
       ' somehow get VB code back into CodeStaementCollection
       Dim codeStatementCollection As CodeStatementCollection
       ' create Code Document Object Model DeSerializer
       Dim codeDOM As CodeDomSerializer =
serializationManager.GetSerializer(GetType(IDesignerHost),
GetType(CodeDomSerializer))
       ' deserialize into the root component object
       Dim formObject As Form = codeDOM.Deserialize(serializationManager,
codeStatementCollection)
       ' somehow get the form object into the DesignerHost

I have two problems here.

Firstly, _host.RootComponent is read-only (_host is the DesignerHost), so
how to I get my deserialized form back into this. (I will read the other
sample you suggested as well)

Secondly and more importantly, I can't translate the VB text file back into
CodeDom statements. I have searched for how to do this, but cannot find any
information. There must be a way as the VB.NET designers do it all the time.

I hope this all makes sense, and I have probably missed something very
obvious! Hopefully you can help me out here!

David.

Hi Jeffrey,

Well, I have been working on this all day so far, and I've got a little
further. As mentioned in the above post, I can deserialize no problem. I have
also added code to serialize the CodeDOM statement collection to a binary
file, rather than to VB code. This is great, and it works OK.

I can also deserialize the binary file back to CodeDOM statemements, and I
have tested this by writing them back to VB code, and it looks fine, so I can
read and write the CodeDOM statement collection - this is great.

The final thing is can't seem to get working is these two lines...

' create Code Document Object Model DeSerializer
       Dim codeDOM As CodeDomSerializer =
serializationManager.GetSerializer(GetType(IDesignerHost),
GetType(CodeDomSerializer))
       ' deserialize into the root component object
       codeDOM.Deserialize(serializationManager, codeStatementCollection)

I am sure something is missing (the deserialize function should return an
object, and I need to add it to the designer I guess), BUT it won't create
that object, which should be a form. Instead, it throws the following
exception, which I can't understand as the Form type is definately referenced
in the project.

System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.CodeDomSerializerException was
unhandled by user code
 HelpLink="SerializerTypeNotFound"
 Message="Could not find type 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'.  Please make
sure that the assembly that contains this type is referenced.  If this type
is a part of your development project, make sure that the project has been
successfully built."
 Source="System.Design"
 StackTrace:
      at
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.CodeDomSerializerBase.Error(IDesignerSerializationManager manager, String exceptionText, String helpLink)

      at
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.CodeDomSerializerBase.DeserializeExpression(IDesignerSerializationManager
manager, String name, CodeExpression expression)

      at
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.CodeDomSerializer.DeserializeStatementToInstance(IDesignerSerializationManager manager, CodeStatement statement)

      at
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.CodeDomSerializer.Deserialize(IDesignerSerializationManager manager, Object codeObject)

      at
IndexCardDesigner.DesignerLoader.PerformLoad(IDesignerSerializationManager
serializationManager) in O:\Visual Studio Projects\Docstore.NET\Index Card
Designer\IndexCardDesigner\DesignerHost\DesignerLoaderService.vb:line 211

      at
System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization.BasicDesignerLoader.BeginLoad(IDesignerLoaderHost host)