In October 2011 I wrote a blog post entitled ObjectStorageHelper<T> – A WinRT utility for Windows 8 where I introduced a little utility class called ObjectStorageHelper<T> that I had been working on while noodling around on the Developer Preview of Windows 8. ObjectStorageHelper<T> makes it easy for anyone building apps for Windows 8 to save data to files. How easy? As easy as this:

var myPoco = new Poco() { IntProp = 1, StringProp = "one" };
var objectStorageHelper = new ObjectStorageHelper<Poco>(StorageType.Local);
await objectStorageHelper.SaveAsync(myPoco);

Compare that to the plumbing code that you would have to write otherwise:

var Obj = new Poco() { IntProp = 1, StringProp = "one" };
StorageFile file = null;
StorageFolder folder = GetFolder(storageType);
file = await folder.CreateFileAsync(FileName(Obj), CreationCollisionOption.ReplaceExisting);
IRandomAccessStream writeStream = await file.OpenAsync(FileAccessMode.ReadWrite);
using (Stream outStream = Task.Run(() => writeStream.AsStreamForWrite()).Result)
{
    serializer.Serialize(outStream, Obj);
    await outStream.FlushAsync();
}

and you can see how ObjectStorageHelper<T> can help save a Windows 8 developer quite a few headaches. ObjectStorageHelper<T> simply requires you to pass it an object to be saved, tell it where to save it (Roaming, Local or Temporary), and you’re done.

Retrieving an object from storage is equally as simple:

var objectStorageHelper = new ObjectStorageHelper<Poco>(StorageType.Local);
var myPoco = await objectStorageHelper.LoadAsync();

Please check the homepage for the project at http://winrtstoragehelper.codeplex.com/ for (much) more info.

A number of people have used and tested ObjectStorageHelper<T> since those early days and one of those folks in particular, David Burela, was good enough to report a couple of bugs:

• Saving Asynchronously
• Save fails when class is in another project

As a result of David’s bug reports and some more extensive testing on my side I have overhauled the initial code that I wrote last October and am confident that it is now much more robust and ready for primetime (check the commit history if you’re interested). The source code (which, again, you can find on Codeplex at http://winrtstoragehelper.codeplex.com/) includes a suite of unit tests to test all of the basic use cases (if you can think of any more please let me know).

If you use this in any of your Windows 8 projects then please let me know. I love getting feedback and I’d also love to know if this is actually being used anywhere.

@Jamiet