' Deserialize an object from a file in SOAP format.Function LoadSoapData(ByVal path As String) As Object    ' Open a file stream for input.    Dim fs As FileStream = New FileStream(path, FileMode.Open)    ' Create a SOAP formatter for this stream.    Dim sf As New SoapFormatter(Nothing, _        New StreamingContext(StreamingContextStates.File))    ' Deserialize the contents of the file stream into an object.    LoadSoapData = sf.Deserialize(fs)    ' close the stream.    fs.Close()End Function' This sample procedure tests the reusable routine above.' Note that you also need the SaveSoapData function, linked below.Sub TestSoapSerialization()    ' Create a hashtable object and fill it with some data.    Dim ht As New Hashtable()    ht.Add("One", 1)    ht.Add("Two", 2)    ht.Add("Three", 3)    ' Save the hash table to disk in SOAP format.    SaveSoapData("c:hashtbl.xml", ht)    ' Reload the file contents into another HashTable object.    Dim ht2 As Hashtable    ht2 = CType(LoadSoapData("c:hashtbl.xml"), Hashtable)    ' Display values.    Dim de As DictionaryEntry    For Each de In ht2        Console.WriteLine("Key=" & de.Key.ToString & "   Value=" & _            de.Value.ToString)    NextEnd Sub' Note: This code is taken from Francesco Balena's' "Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET" - MS Press 2002, ISBN 0735613753' You can read a free chapter of the book at ' http://www.vb2themax.com/HtmlDoc.asp?Table=Books&ID=101000