Re: [Boost-users] [serialization] serialization of pointers toprimitive types?

Serialization of pointers to primitive data types is prohibited. I'm pretty sure this is mentioned in the documentation. ( don't have the exact reference handy) - and it has been noted a couple of times. The reason is that doing this would result in ALL usages of that type being tracked - which is probably a heck of a lot more than the user had in mind. The way to serialize pointer to primitives (serialization_level::prmitive) is to use BOOST_STRONG_TYPEDEF to define a new type and specify serialization function for it. This won't work for std::string so you'll have to make a trivial derivation of std::string if you want to serialize a pointer to a std::string. Robert Ramey Joaquín Mª López Muñoz wrote:

The following test program:

#include #include <sstream>

int main() { int x=0; int* const px=&x; std::ostringstream oss; boost::archive::text_oarchive oa(oss); oa<

return 0; }

produces this error in MSVC++ 6.0:

...boost/serialization/access.hpp(109) : error C2228: left of '.serialize' must have class/struct/union type ...boost/serialization/serialization.hpp(81) : see reference to function template instantiation 'void __cdecl boost::serialization::access::serialize( class boost::archive::text_oarchive &,int &,const unsigned int)' being compiled

and the following error in GCC 3.2:

...boost/serialization/access.hpp: In static member function `static void boost::serialization::access::serialize(Archive&, T&, unsigned int) [with Archive = boost::archive::text_oarchive, T = int]': ... ...boost/serialization/access.hpp:109: request for member `serialize' in `t', which is of non-aggregate type `int'

I've checked the same snippet against Boost 1.33.1, CVS HEAD and RC_1_34_0, using other primitive types like std::string, same problem always. Same problem also for the loading counterpart. When the pointed-to type is not primitive, though, everything works fine, regardless of whether the type has intrusive or non intrusive serialization support.

I am sure I'm doing something really stupid here, but I've been banging my head against this several hours. Some clue greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Joaquín Mª López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo