Serialization + semantics of toString

[Denis Koroskin]

On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:11:54 +0300, Jacob Carlborg <doob at me.com> wrote:

> On 11/13/09 00:13, aarti_pl wrote:
>> Andrei Alexandrescu pisze:
>>  > But that being said, I'd so much want to start thinking of an actual
>>  > text serialization infrastructure. Why develop one later with the
>>  > mention "well use that stuff for debugging only, this is the real
>> stuff."
>>  >
>>  > Andrei
>>
>> You might want to see my serialization library for D.
>>
>> I think that it is worth noting as it manages to achieve the goal:
>> same data - completely different output. Because this output might be
>> defined by user in the way she wants, it seems that this can work
>> exactly the way toString should work.
>>
>> It is achieved by using Archive classes which makes proper formatting,
>> and which are completely independent from data being printed. Initial
>> design is based on C++ Boost. I just extended concept a bit and adopted
>> it to D.
>>
>> Basic interface for serialization is like this:
>>
>> auto serializer = Serializer!(TextArchive);
>> //It might be also e.g.:
>> //auto serializer = Serializer!(JsonArchive);
>> auto input = new TransparentClass(-21, 2.11, "text1", 128, -127);
>> auto output = serializer.dump(input);
>> assert(serializer.load!(TransparentClass)(output) == input);
>>
>> In case of transparent classes (every field is public) you don't need
>> any method inside of serialized class/struct.
>>
>> In case of opaque classes there is enough to:
>> 1. add mixin inside:
>> mixin Serializable;
>> or
>> 2. add template method:
>> void describeUdt(T)(T arch) {
>> arch.describeStaticArray(array, array.stringof);
>> }
>
> Or you could use arhc.typeof[i] to access/set the values (even private)  
> of a struct/class.
>

You mean .tupleof? Just tested and it really works (wow!), didn't know  
about that. Thanks!