Serialization in java is implemented by ObjectInputStream and ObjectOutputStream, so all we need is a wrapper over them to either save it to file or send it over the network. Let’s see a simple Serialization in java program example.

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What is the Java analogue of .NET's XML serialization?

Object serialization is the process of saving an object's state to a sequence of bytes, as well as the process of rebuilding those bytes into a live object at some future time. The Java Serialization API provides a standard mechanism for developers to handle object serialization. Examples Of Serialization in Java. In this section, we have discussed Serialization in Java with examples. An example in Java is provided here to demonstrate how serialization works in Java. We create an Employee class to study some features and the code for same is provided below. This employee class implements the Serializable interface.

Raedwald

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Dmitry ShechtmanDmitry Shechtman

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closed as off-topic by Samuel Liew♦Sep 27 '18 at 9:51

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11 Answers

2008 AnswerThe 'Official' Java API for this is now JAXB - Java API for XML Binding. See Tutorial by Oracle. The reference implementation lives at http://jaxb.java.net/

2018 Update Note that the Java EE and CORBA Modules are deprecated in SE in JDK9 and to be removed from SE in JDK11. Therefore, to use JAXB it will either need to be in your existing enterprise class environment bundled by your e.g. app server, or you will need to bring it in manually.

CheekysoftCheekysoft

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XStream is pretty good at serializing object to XML without much configuration and money! (it's under BSD license).

We used it in one of our project to replace the plain old java-serialization and it worked almost out of the box.

Boern

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Barak SchillerBarak Schiller

You may want to look at the Simple XML Serialization project. It is the closest thing I've found to the System.Xml.Serialization in .Net.

Basil Bourque

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ARKBANARKBAN

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JAXB is part of JDK standard edition version 1.6+. So it is FREE and no extra libraries to download and manage.A simple example can be found here

XStream seems to be dead. Last update was on Dec 6 2008.Simple seems as easy and simpler as JAXB but I could not find any licensing information to evaluate it for enterprise use.

so_mvso_mv

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Worth mentioning that since version 1.4, Java had the classes java.beans.XMLEncoder and java.beans.XMLDecoder. These classes perform XML encoding which is at least very comparable to XML Serialization and in some circumstances might do the trick for you.

If your class sticks to the JavaBeans specification for its getters and setters, this method is straightforward to use and you don't need a schema. With the following caveats:

As with normal Java serialization
- coding and decoding run over a InputStream and OutputStream
- the process uses the familar writeObject and readObject methods
In contrast to normal Java serialization
- the encoding but also decoding causes constructors and initializers to be invoked
- encoding and decoding work regardless if your class implements Serializable or not
- transient modifiers are not taken into account
- works only for public classes, that have public constructors

For example, take the following declaration:

Executing this code:

Would result in the following file:

MishaxMishax

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XMLBeans works great if you have a schema for your XML. It creates Java objects for the schema and creates easy to use parse methods.

John MeagherJohn Meagher

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If you're talking about automatic XML serialization of objects, check out Castor:

Castor is an Open Source data binding framework for Java[tm]. It's the shortest path between Java objects, XML documents and relational tables. Castor provides Java-to-XML binding, Java-to-SQL persistence, and more.

TheoTheo

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Usually I use jaxb or XMLBeans if I need to create objects serializable to XML. Now, I can see that XStream might be very useful as it's nonintrusive and has really simple api. I'll play with it soon and probably use it. The only drawback I noticed is that I can't create object's id on my own for cross referencing.

@Barak Schiller
Thanks for posting link to XStream!

Bartosz BierkowskiBartosz Bierkowski

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CheesoCheeso

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if you want a structured solution (like ORM) then JAXB2 is a good solution.

If you want a serialization like DOT NET then you could use Long Term Persistence of JavaBeans Components

The choice depends on use of serialization.

Andrew Thompson

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m.genovam.genova

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closed as off-topic by Samuel Liew♦Sep 27 '18 at 9:51

11 Answers

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Java Serialization Example