C# Does Deserialization Constructor get called INSTEAD of the default constructor?

Question

I am just becoming familiar with serialization of objects in C#. I am wondering if the deserialization constructor is called INSTEAD OF the default constructor or IN ADDITION TO. If it is IN ADDITION TO, what order are these called in? For example:

[Serializable()]
public class ReadCache : ISerializable
{
    protected ArrayList notifiedURLs;

    // Default constructor
    public ReadCache()
    {
        notifiedURLs = new ArrayList();
    }

    // Deserialization constructor.
    public ReadCache(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext ctxt)
    {
        //Get the values from info and assign them to the appropriate properties
        notifiedURLs = (ArrayList)info.GetValue("notifiedURLs", typeof(ArrayList));
    }
}

Answer 1

No it will get called "instead" of the default - but you can initialize your list with something like this:

public ReadCache(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext ctxt)
  : this()
{
    //Get the values from info and assign them to the appropriate properties
    notifiedURLs = (ArrayList)info.GetValue("notifiedURLs", typeof(ArrayList));
}

Please note the "... : this()" - syntax - but in your special case you don't have to!