How Can Boost Serialization Simplify C Object Serialization and Deserialization?

Serialization in C : A Comprehensive Guide

Serialization is the process of translating an object into a stream of bytes that can be stored or transmitted. This is often useful for transmitting objects over a network or persisting objects to storage. In C , there are multiple approaches to serialization, one of the most popular being the Boost Serialization Library.

Boost Serialization

Boost Serialization provides a powerful and flexible framework for serialization in C . It supports serialization of both individual objects and complex data structures, including pointers and derived classes. To use Boost Serialization, you must first declare the serializable classes. This involves defining a serialize() method that specifies how the object's data should be written and read from a stream.

#include <boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp>
#include <boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp>

class gps_position {
private:
    friend class boost::serialization::access;
    template<class Archive>
    void serialize(Archive &amp; ar, const unsigned int version) {
        ar &amp; degrees;
        ar &amp; minutes;
        ar &amp; seconds;
    }
    int degrees;
    int minutes;
    float seconds;

public:
    gps_position(){};
    gps_position(int d, int m, float s) :
    degrees(d), minutes(m), seconds(s)
    {}
};

Serialization and Deserialization

With the class declared, you can now perform serialization and deserialization operations. Serialization involves writing the object's data to a stream of bytes.

std::ofstream ofs("filename.dat", std::ios::binary);

// create class instance
const gps_position g(35, 59, 24.567f);

// save data to archive
{
    boost::archive::binary_oarchive oa(ofs);
    // write class instance to archive
    oa << g;
    // archive and stream closed when destructors are called
}

Deserialization is the process of reconstructing an object from a stream of bytes.

std::ifstream ifs("filename.dat", std::ios::binary);

// create class instance to store deserialized object
gps_position g_deserialized;

// read class instance from archive
{
    boost::archive::binary_iarchive ia(ifs);
    ia >> g_deserialized;
    // archive and stream closed when destructors are called
}

Considerations

In addition to the above, Boost Serialization also provides mechanisms for handling pointers, derived classes, and choosing between binary and text serialization. Out of the box, it supports all STL containers.

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