Head First C# Code: Chapter 10
Excuse Manager
Excuse.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;

namespace _0_Excuse_Manager
{


    [Serializable]
    public class Excuse
    {
        public string Description;
        public string Results;
        public DateTime LastUsed;
        public string ExcusePath;

        public Excuse()
        {
            ExcusePath = "";
        }

        public Excuse(string excusePath)
        {
            OpenFile(ExcusePath);
        }

        public Excuse(Random random, string folder)
        {
            string[] fileNames = Directory.GetFiles(folder, "*.excuse");
            OpenFile(fileNames[random.Next(fileNames.Length)]);
        }

        private void OpenFile(string excusePath)
        {
            this.ExcusePath = excusePath;
            BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
            Excuse tempExcuse;
            using (Stream input = File.OpenRead(excusePath))
            {
                tempExcuse = (Excuse)formatter.Deserialize(input);
            }
            Description = tempExcuse.Description;
            Results = tempExcuse.Results;
            LastUsed = tempExcuse.LastUsed;
        }

        public void Save(string fileName)
        {
            BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
            using (Stream output = File.OpenWrite(fileName))
            {
                formatter.Serialize(output, this);
            }
        }
    }
}