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Borsh in .NET

Hexarc.Borsh is .NET implementation of the Binary Object Representation Serializer for Hashing format.

Features

100% C# library
Zero dependencies
Ready for Blazor WebAssembly

Supported platforms

.NET	Hexarc.Borsh
`6.x`	`1.x`
`7.x`	`2.x`

Getting started

Install the package with the NuGet CLI:

dotnet add package Hexarc.Borsh

Reference the Hexarc.Borsh namespace in your code:

using Hexarc.Borsh;

Serialize and deserialize .NET objects via the BorshSerializer class:

[BorshObject]
public sealed class Point
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    public required Int32 X { get; init; }
    
    [BorshPropertyOrder(1)]
    public required Int32 Y { get; init; }
    
    [BorshPropertyOrder(2)]
    public required Int32 Z { get; init; }
}

var point = new Point { X = 5, Y = 10, Z = 20 };

var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(point);
var restored = BorshSerializer.Deserialize<Point>(raw);

Serialization capabilities

These types can be serialized by default:

Byte, SByte, Boolean, Int16, UInt16, Int32, UInt32, Int64, UInt64, Int128, UInt128
Single, Double, Half
Nullable<T>
Enum
String
DateTime
ValueTuple
Arrays as T[]
List<T>
HashSet<T>
Dictionary<TKey, TValue>
Hexarc.Borsh.Option<T>
POCO like user defined classes

Object serialization

Serializable types must be annotated with the BorshObject attribute. The BorshIgnore attribute can be used to exclude properties from serialization.

[BorshObject]
public sealed class Point
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    public required Int32 X { get; init; }
    
    [BorshPropertyOrder(1)]
    public required Int32 Y { get; init; }
    
    [BorshPropertyOrder(2)]
    public required Int32 Z { get; init; }
    
    // This property will be excluded from serialization.
    [BorshIgnore]
    public String? Memo { get; init; }
}

var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(new Point { X = 1, Y = 2, Z = 3 });

Records serialization:

[BorshObject]
public sealed record Rect(
    [property: BorshPropertyOrder(0)] Int32 Width,
    [property: BorshPropertyOrder(1)] Int32 Height
);

var rect = new Rect(10, 20);
var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(rect);

Nullable reference type serialization

Another important notice that Borsh is mostly designed to support the Rust type system. So null reference values are not directly supported in .NET implementation. Please use the special BorshOptional attribute or Hexarc.Borsh.Option<T> type for this purpose.

Property annotation example:

[BorshObject]
public sealed class PersonDetails
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    [BorshOptional]
    public String? FirstName { get; init; }

    [BorshPropertyOrder(1)]
    [BorshOptional]
    public String? LastName { get; init; }
}

In case you need to serialize a top level nullable reference type object:

String? input = Console.ReadLine();

var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(Option<String>.Create(input));
var restored = BorshSerializer.Deserialize<Option<String>>(raw);

Fixed array type serialization

The BorshFixedArray attribute allows to serialize fixed array types according to the Borsh specification:

[BorshObject]
public sealed class Data
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    [BorshFixedArray(3)]
    public required Int32[] Numbers { get; init; }
}

var data = new Data { Numbers = new[] { 1, 2, 3 } };
var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(data);

Union type serialization

The BorshUnion attribute allows to serialize union types:

[BorshObject]
[BorshUnion<Circle>(0)]
[BorshUnion<Square>(1)]
public abstract class Figure {}

[BorshObject]
public sealed class Circle : Figure
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    public required Int32 Radius { get; init; }
}

[BorshObject]
public sealed class Square : Figure
{
    [BorshPropertyOrder(0)]
    public required Int32 SideSize { get; init; }
}

Figure square = new Square { SideSize = 1 };
var raw = BorshSerializer.Serialize(square);

Acknowledgments

Built with JetBrains tools for Open Source projects.