Hi to all, This is my very first post to boost-users! I've been using a couple of boost libraries for a while (shared_ptr & bind mostly). Write now we are in the process of transforming a project based on MFC collections, (with objects derived from CObject), to STL, and doing some search for a library that will allow object persistence the way MFC does, the obvious solution was boost::serialize. As I'm a newbie in mpl style code the first impression was terrifying! But after reading the documentation and experimenting a lot, I did manage to start using boost::serialize. In fact there is no need to be familiar with mpl. The library is excellent - an exemplary work, thank you Robert Ramey! Now my problem is with xml files. I can write a couple of classes both in txt and binary files. But I can't write the very same data in xml format. I believe I followed all guidelines but I had no luck ... :( The scenario in pseudo code is this: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // file fem.h #include <boost/archive/...> #include <boost/serialize/...> namespace fem { class CTCBase { ... }; typedef boost::shared_ptr<CTCBase> CBSPBase typedef std::list<CBSPBase> CBSPBaseList class CTCSoil { ... }; typedef boost::shared_ptr<CTCSoil> CBSPSoil typedef std::list<CBSPSoil> CBSPSoilList class CTCBrickWall { ... }; typedef boost::shared_ptr<CTCBrickWall> CBSPBrickWall typedef std::list<CBSPBrickWall> CBSPBrickWallList // list of soils CBSPSoilList s_lstSoils; // list of Brick Walls CBSPBrickWallList s_lstBrickWalls; // initial soil for each new foundation beam (also contained in above list) CBSPSoil s_bspSoil; // initial brick wall on each beam (also contained in above list) CBSPBrickWall s_bspBrick; } BOOST_CLASS_VERSION(fem::CTCBase, 1); BOOST_CLASS_VERSION(fem::CTCSoil, 1); BOOST_CLASS_VERSION(fem::CTCBrickWall, 1); ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // file fem.cpp #include "fem.h" #include <boost/serialization/export.hpp> BOOST_IS_ABSTRACT(fem::CTCBaseObj); BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT(fem::CTCSoil); BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT(fem::CTCBrickWall); void fill_with_build_in() { ... } void main() { fill_with_build_in(); boost_serialize_save_txt("boost_serialize.txt"); boost_serialize_save_bin("boost_serialize.bin"); boost_serialize_save_xml("boost_serialize.xml"); // some time later ... boost_serialize_open_txt("boost_serialize.txt"); boost_serialize_open_bin("boost_serialize.bin"); boost_serialize_open_xml("boost_serialize.xml"); } The xml save & open functions are in file fem_boost_serialize.cpp I attached the 3 files produced this way. I can also read back txt & binary versions. I'm wondering if somebody - hopefully Robert Ramey! - can tell me just by examining the output files, where should I look for the problem. Or do I have to debug the code line by line and see what wend wrong? It seems something is wrong with the very first shared_ptr serialization . I include some - not stand alone I'm afraid - source code files with this message just in case someone might take a look at them. I can tell that during the transition period from MFC to STL (possibly after that too), our objects derive from MFC CObject. Also at the moment, we still use MFC CString and not std::string. I had to copy CString to std::string for the serialization to work properly. Could there be a conflict somewhere there? Could it be the order in hpp files are included? Finally I use MS Visual C++ .net 2003 and boost v1.33.1. Thank you in advanced, Emmanuil Tsagarakis