Ruediger Berlich wrote:

Dear all,

I'd like to serialize a number of classes using the free-standing version of the serialize function. As I do not want to access internals of the classes directly, I have to work with set/get functions, which in turn implies having to write load/save functions.

This seems to work for simple types, like in the following example. But will it circumvent any internal mechanisms of Boost.Serialization , if I do not give the library direct access to class data ? Will this work for complex types, e.g. vectors of shared_ptr objects ?

yes The only problem will be with "secret" objects which are pointed to. When you de-serialize them to the stack, the internal address is wrong so after moving them using "get" you'll have to use "reset_object_address" if they are trackable. Robert Ramey

/*************************************************************************/

class base{ public: base(void){ setSecret(1); } base(int val){ setSecret(val); } virtual ~base(){ /* nothing */ }

virtual int getSecret(void) const{ return secret; }

virtual void printInfo(void) = 0;

void setSecret(int val){ secret = val; }

private: int secret; };

BOOST_IS_ABSTRACT(base);

namespace boost { namespace serialization { template<class Archive> void save(Archive & ar, const base & t, unsigned int version) { int secret = t.getSecret(); ar & make_nvp("secret", secret); }

template<class Archive> void load(Archive & ar, base & t, unsigned int version) { int secret; ar & make_nvp("secret", secret); t.setSecret(secret); }

template<class Archive> inline void serialize(Archive & ar, base & t; const unsigned int version) { split_free(ar, t, version); } } }

/*************************************************************************/

Thanks and have a good day, Ruediger