How to Serialize and Deserialize a C Class with Custom Data Types?

How to do serialization of Class having members of custom data types in C ?

Problem

The goal is to serialize and deserialize a C class Mango that contains members of custom data types.

Implementation

The suggested implementation includes the following functions:

<code class="cpp">std::vector<uint8_t> serialize(Mango const& Man);
Mango                deserialize(std::span<uint8_t const> data);

void serialize_to_stream(std::ostream& os, Mango const& Man);
void deserialize(std::istream& is, Mango& Man);</code>

Customizations for Data Types

Customizations are required for all relevant types (including ValType, FuntionMango, MangoType, and Mango):

<code class="cpp">// Define `do_generate` and `do_parse` functions
// for custom data types.</code>

Example Implementation

<code class="cpp">void serialize_to_stream(std::ostream& os, Mango const& Man) {
    do_generate(std::ostreambuf_iterator<char>(os), Man);
}

void deserialize(std::istream& is, Mango& Man) {
    Man = {}; // clear it!
    std::istreambuf_iterator<char> f(is), l{};
    if (!do_parse(f, l, Man))
        throw std::runtime_error("deserialize");
}</code>

Portability Considerations

• Endianness may need to be normalized, which can be done manually or using a library like Boost Endian (header-only).

Additional Notes

• This approach allows data to be efficiently stored and transferred between different processes or systems.

Live Example:

https://coliru.stacked-crooked.com/a/288829ec964a3ca9

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