Hi, I need serialization in a project of mine. I have reduced my options to boost and ProtocolBuffer, but in order to be able to decide which one to use, I am trying to build a timing test for serialization and deserialization. Let me explain a little about my setup: a) Platform: - windows 7, 64bit version - visual studio 2008 express edition x32 b) Additional library: - ACE library for High resolution timer. The code (an explanations) that I have used to implement the comparison is at follows: I build a class with four different lists of boost/serialization/list like documentation states: std::list<unsigned int> &lint_; std::list<ACE_INT64> &llong_; std::list<float> &lfloat_; std::list<std::string> &lstring_; The test is increasing the size of every list simultaneously. Then it gets serializated and deserializated and finally I get the time results for this process. However there is one issue: Serialization always works, but deserialization fails during execution time whenever the lists are bigger than 10 elements, throws a exception "input stream error" into boost/serialization/throw_exception.hpp as seen with the debugger in the variable/const std::exception const &e (boost library) Visual studio shows this message: Unhandled exception at 0x765cb727 in prTestBoostSerialization2.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: boost::archive::archive_exception at memory location 0x003fc564.. my class definition is: #include <boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/string.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/list.hpp> //#include <boost/serialization/version.hpp> //#include <boost/serialization/split_member.hpp> #include <iostream> #include <list> #include <string> class BoostSerializationClass { public: // Not required because al member are public // friend class boost::serialization::access; BoostSerializationClass(std::list<unsigned int> &lint , std::list<float> &lfloat , std::list<ACE_INT64> &llong , std::list<std::string> &lstring) : lint_(lint), lfloat_(lfloat), llong_(llong), lstring_(lstring) { //std::cout << std::endl << " max size " << lint_.max_size(); //std::cout << std::endl << " " << llong_.max_size(); //std::cout << std::endl << " " << lfloat_.max_size(); //std::cout << std::endl << " " << lstring_.max_size(); } std::list<unsigned int> &lint_; std::list<ACE_INT64> &llong_; std::list<float> &lfloat_; std::list<std::string> &lstring_; }; namespace boost { namespace serialization { template<class Archive> void serialize(Archive &ar, BoostSerializationClass &c , const unsigned int version){ ar & c.lint_; ar & c.llong_; ar & c.lfloat_; ar & c.lstring_; } } } ----------------------- And main function is: #include <iostream> #include <fstream> //#include <cstdlib> #include <ace/OS.h> #include <ace/Time_Value.h> #include <ace/High_Res_Timer.h> // high resolution timer // include for BOOST #include "../prTestProtocolBuffers/BoostSerializationClass.h" #include <boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp> //#include <list> <- dont include this use boost/serialization/list #include <boost/serialization/list.hpp> void gen_random_string(std::string &s, const int len); int ACE_TMAIN(int argc, ACE_TCHAR* argv[]){ //int lengthList = 5; //int lengthList = 10; int lengthList = 15; //int lengthList = 50; // int lengthList = 100; // int lengthList = 1000; std::list<unsigned int> listInteger,listInteger2; std::list<float> listFloat,listFloat2; std::list<ACE_INT64> listLongs,listLongs2; std::list<std::string> listString,listString2; int rint = 0; float rfloat = 0.f; ACE_INT64 rint64 = 0; std::string rstring = ""; std::cout << std::endl << "Begin random generate message. Please be patient."; // Generate random fields for messages for (int i=0 ; i<lengthList ; i++){ listInteger.push_back( rand() ); listFloat.push_back( (float)rand()/(float)RAND_MAX ); listLongs.push_back( rand()*rand()*rand() ); gen_random_string(rstring, lengthList); listString.push_back( rstring ); } // BOOST SERIALIZATION ACE_High_Res_Timer hrTimerBoost; // Load fields into BoostSerializableClass BoostSerializationClass boostSerializationClass( listInteger, listFloat, listLongs, listString); std::ofstream obfile("boost-file.bin"); boost::archive::binary_oarchive oba(obfile); //ACE_Time_Value btvStart = ACE_OS::gettimeofday(); hrTimerBoost.start(); oba & boostSerializationClass; // boost serialization; obfile.close(); hrTimerBoost.stop(); ACE_hrtime_t usecsBoost; hrTimerBoost.elapsed_microseconds(usecsBoost); //ACE_Time_Value btvEnd = ACE_OS::gettimeofday(); //ACE_Time_Value tvIncBoost( btvEnd.sec() - btvStart.sec() , btvEnd.msec() - btvStart.msec() ); std::cout << std:: endl << " ===== BOOST SERIALIZATION =====" ; //std::cout << std::endl << tvIncBoost.sec() << " seconds " << tvIncBoost.msec() << " mseconds" << std::endl ; std::cout << std::endl << usecsBoost << " micro seconds " << std::endl ; // BOOST DESERIALIZACION BoostSerializationClass boostSerializationClass2( listInteger2, listFloat2, listLongs2, listString2); std::ifstream ibfile("boost-file.bin"); boost::archive::binary_iarchive iba(ibfile); //btvStart = ACE_OS::gettimeofday(); hrTimerBoost.reset(); hrTimerBoost.start(); iba & boostSerializationClass2; ibfile.close(); hrTimerBoost.stop(); hrTimerBoost.elapsed_microseconds(usecsBoost); //btvEnd = ACE_OS::gettimeofday(); //tvIncBoost = ACE_Time_Value( btvEnd.sec() - btvStart.sec() , btvEnd.msec() - btvStart.msec() ); std::cout << std:: endl << " ===== BOOST DE-SERIALIZATION =====" ; //std::cout << std::endl << tvIncBoost.sec() << " seconds " << tvIncBoost.msec() << " mseconds" << std::endl ; std::cout << std::endl << usecsBoost << " micro seconds " << std::endl ; ACE_OS::system("pause"); return 0; } //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// void gen_random_string(std::string &s, const int len) { static const char alphanum[] = "0123456789" "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"; s.clear(); for (int i = 0; i < len ; ++i) { s.push_back(rand() % (sizeof(alphanum) - 1) ); } } Can anyone of you help me with this? Any help would be truly appreciated. Thanks in advance.