Table of Contents

1 System Architecture

• 1.1 Overview
• 1.2 Writing to an Object Stream
• 1.3 Reading from an Object Stream
• 1.4 Object Streams as Containers
• 1.5 Defining Serializable Fields for a Class
• 1.6 Documenting Serializable Fields and Data for a Class
• 1.7 Accessing Serializable Fields of a Class
• 1.8 The ObjectOutput Interface
• 1.9 The ObjectInput Interface
• 1.10 The Serializable Interface
• 1.11 The Externalizable Interface
• 1.12 Serialization of Enum Constants
• 1.13 Serialization of Records
• 1.14 Circular References
• 1.15 Protecting Sensitive Information

2 Object Output Classes

• 2.1 The ObjectOutputStream Class
• 2.2 The ObjectOutputStream.PutField Class
• 2.3 The writeObject Method
• 2.4 The writeExternal Method
• 2.5 The writeReplace Method
• 2.6 The useProtocolVersion Method

3 Object Input Classes

• 3.1 The ObjectInputStream Class
• 3.2 The ObjectInputStream.GetField Class
• 3.3 The ObjectInputValidation Interface
• 3.4 The readObject Method
• 3.5 The readObjectNoData Method
• 3.6 The readExternal Method
• 3.7 The readResolve Method

4 Class Descriptors

• 4.1 The ObjectStreamClass Class
• 4.2 Dynamic Proxy Class Descriptors
• 4.3 Serialized Form
• 4.4 The ObjectStreamField Class
• 4.5 Inspecting Serializable Classes
• 4.6 Stream Unique Identifiers

5 Versioning of Serializable Objects

• 5.1 Overview
• 5.2 Goals
• 5.3 Assumptions
• 5.4 Who's Responsible for Versioning of Streams
• 5.5 Compatible Java Type Evolution
• 5.6 Type Changes Affecting Serialization
  • 5.6.1 Incompatible Changes
  • 5.6.2 Compatible Changes

6 Object Serialization Stream Protocol

• 6.1 Overview
• 6.2 Stream Elements
• 6.3 Stream Protocol Versions
• 6.4 Grammar for the Stream Format
  • 6.4.1 Rules of the Grammar
  • 6.4.2 Terminal Symbols and Constants

A Security in Object Serialization

B Exceptions In Object Serialization

C Example of Serializable Fields

• C.1 Example Alternate Implementation of java.io.File