* * To allow subtypes of non-serializable classes to be serialized, the * subtype may assume responsibility for saving and restoring the * state of the supertype's public, protected, and (if accessible) * package fields. The subtype may assume this responsibility only if * the class it extends has an accessible no-arg constructor to * initialize the class's state. It is an error to declare a class * Serializable if this is not the case. The error will be detected at * runtime.
* * During deserialization, the fields of non-serializable classes will * be initialized using the public or protected no-arg constructor of * the class. A no-arg constructor must be accessible to the subclass * that is serializable. The fields of serializable subclasses will * be restored from the stream.
* * When traversing a graph, an object may be encountered that does not * support the Serializable interface. In this case the * NotSerializableException will be thrown and will identify the class * of the non-serializable object.
* * Classes that require special handling during the serialization and * deserialization process must implement special methods with these exact * signatures: * *
* private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out) * throws IOException * private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in) * throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException; * private void readObjectNoData() * throws ObjectStreamException; ** *
The writeObject method is responsible for writing the state of the * object for its particular class so that the corresponding * readObject method can restore it. The default mechanism for saving * the Object's fields can be invoked by calling * out.defaultWriteObject. The method does not need to concern * itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses. * State is saved by writing the individual fields to the * ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the * methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. * *
The readObject method is responsible for reading from the stream and * restoring the classes fields. It may call in.defaultReadObject to invoke * the default mechanism for restoring the object's non-static and * non-transient fields. The defaultReadObject method uses information in * the stream to assign the fields of the object saved in the stream with the * correspondingly named fields in the current object. This handles the case * when the class has evolved to add new fields. The method does not need to * concern itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses. * State is restored by reading data from the ObjectInputStream for * the individual fields and making assignments to the appropriate fields * of the object. Reading primitive data types is supported by DataInput. * *
The readObjectNoData method is responsible for initializing the state of * the object for its particular class in the event that the serialization * stream does not list the given class as a superclass of the object being * deserialized. This may occur in cases where the receiving party uses a * different version of the deserialized instance's class than the sending * party, and the receiver's version extends classes that are not extended by * the sender's version. This may also occur if the serialization stream has * been tampered; hence, readObjectNoData is useful for initializing * deserialized objects properly despite a "hostile" or incomplete source * stream. * *
Serializable classes that need to designate an alternative object to be * used when writing an object to the stream should implement this * special method with the exact signature: * *
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException; *
* * This writeReplace method is invoked by serialization if the method * exists and it would be accessible from a method defined within the * class of the object being serialized. Thus, the method can have private, * protected and package-private access. Subclass access to this method * follows java accessibility rules.
* * Classes that need to designate a replacement when an instance of it * is read from the stream should implement this special method with the * exact signature. * *
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object readResolve() throws ObjectStreamException; *
* * This readResolve method follows the same invocation rules and * accessibility rules as writeReplace.
*
* The serialization runtime associates with each serializable class a version
* number, called a serialVersionUID, which is used during deserialization to
* verify that the sender and receiver of a serialized object have loaded
* classes for that object that are compatible with respect to serialization.
* If the receiver has loaded a class for the object that has a different
* serialVersionUID than that of the corresponding sender's class, then
* deserialization will result in an {@link InvalidClassException}. A
* serializable class can declare its own serialVersionUID explicitly by
* declaring a field named "serialVersionUID" that must be static,
* final, and of type long:
*
*
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER static final long serialVersionUID = 42L; ** * If a serializable class does not explicitly declare a serialVersionUID, then * the serialization runtime will calculate a default serialVersionUID value * for that class based on various aspects of the class, as described in the * Java(TM) Object Serialization Specification. However, it is strongly * recommended that all serializable classes explicitly declare * serialVersionUID values, since the default serialVersionUID computation is * highly sensitive to class details that may vary depending on compiler * implementations, and can thus result in unexpected *
InvalidClassExceptions during deserialization. Therefore, to
* guarantee a consistent serialVersionUID value across different java compiler
* implementations, a serializable class must declare an explicit
* serialVersionUID value. It is also strongly advised that explicit
* serialVersionUID declarations use the private modifier where
* possible, since such declarations apply only to the immediately declaring
* class--serialVersionUID fields are not useful as inherited members. Array
* classes cannot declare an explicit serialVersionUID, so they always have
* the default computed value, but the requirement for matching
* serialVersionUID values is waived for array classes.
*
* @author unascribed
* @see java.io.ObjectOutputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectInputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectOutput
* @see java.io.ObjectInput
* @see java.io.Externalizable
* @since 1.1
*/
public interface Serializable {
}