User-defined types (UDTs) and user-defined aggregates are required to define a storage format, which can be either Format.Native or Format.UserDefined.

Format.Native allows SQL Server to handle serialization and deserialization automatically, but the format has restrictions on the kind of types it can handle. Format.UserDefined allows user-defined types and aggregates to handle their own serialization. User-defined types and aggregates must be marked with Format.UserDefined in the SqlUserDefinedType or SqlUserDefinedAggregate attribute, and must implement the IBinarySerialize interface.

Note that even with custom serialization, the total size of each instance must be under the maximum allowed limit, currently 8000 bytes.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

.NET Framework

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