I want to save a object(im my case a "Chart") to a file.
This is the code I have used:

BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
Stream stream = new FileStream(fileSaver.FileName, FileMode.Create,
                        FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None);
formatter.Serialize(stream, ((Chart)this.ActiveMdiChild) );
stream.Close();

I have included the [Serializable]attribute to both the Chart-class and all classes used by chart.
As I try to save the file(formatter.Serialize(stream, ((Chart)this.ActiveMdiChild) ); ), this message occur:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationExcepti on' occurred in mscorlib.dll
Additional information: The type FFI.Gui.Chart in Assembly FFI, Version=1.0.1256.18215, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null is not marked as serializable.

Can someone help me?

Thanks.
Eivind Rasmussen.

When serializing an object, the formatter searches all references to objects and then serializes all of them.

Since serialization is optional, some components do not allow serialization (like a lot of the System.Net.Mail namespace classes). Therefore, you have to mark [NonSerialized()] on these public properties. The side effect is the data is not stored when retrieving from the BinaryFormatter.

The alternative is to save the values that made the grid in the first place, and then regenerate the component with your saved values.

I hope this helps,

Dominic