Serialize (convert an object instance to an XML document):
// Assuming obj is an instance of an object
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
System.IO.StringWriter writer = new System.IO.StringWriter(sb);
ser.Serialize(writer, obj);
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(sb.ToString());
Deserialize (convert an XML document into an object instance):
//Assuming doc is an XML document containing a serialized object and objType is a System.Type set to the type of the object.
XmlNodeReader reader = new XmlNodeReader(doc.DocumentElement);
XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(objType);
object obj = ser.Deserialize(reader);
// Then you just need to cast obj into whatever type it is eg:
MyClass myObj = (MyClass)obj;