How to convert list of strings to an existing object list?

Question

I am wanting to save / restore object data in my Windows Phone 8 application. The objects are logs, each log having its own properties. The master list of logs is named logArray.

However the case, I do not know how to convert the saved .txt file back into the logArray, for when the app starts back up! Here is my code:

    private async Task WriteToFile()
    {
        try
        {
            if (File.Exists("Logs.txt"))
            {
                File.Delete("Logs.txt");
            }

            StreamWriter write = new StreamWriter("Logs.txt");

            //Write each log element to a new string line
            foreach (Log element in logArray)
            {
                await write.WriteLineAsync();
            }
        }

        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: " + e.ToString());
        }

    }

    private async Task ReadFromFile()
    {
        try
        {
            //Variable definitions
            StreamReader read = new StreamReader("Logs.txt");
            List<String> lines = new List<String>();
            String line;


            if (File.Exists("Logs.txt"))
            {
                //Read each string line into a string list
                while ((line = await read.ReadLineAsync()) != null)
                {
                    lines.Add(line);
                }

                foreach (String element in lines)
                {
                    //Convert String line to logArray object

                }
            }  
        }

        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: " + e.ToString());
        } 
    }

Answer 1

Perhaps you should consider serializing and de-serializing using a markup anguage like XML or JSON, and then storing your text to a file.

an example for XML serialization using a simple car object:

public static void WriteFile()
{
    Car testCar= new Car();
    string path = "c:\temp\testCarPath.xml";
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Car));
    StreamWriter file = new StreamWriter(path);

    serializer.Serialize(file, testCar);
    file.Close();
}
public static void ReadFile()
{
    Car testCar;
    string path = "c:\temp\testCarPath.xml";
    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Car));
    StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path);

    testCar = (Car)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
    reader.Close();
}