Closeable
, DataOutput
, Flushable
, ObjectOutput
, ObjectStreamConstants
, AutoCloseable
public class ObjectOutputStream extends OutputStream implements ObjectOutput, ObjectStreamConstants
Only objects that support the java.io.Serializable interface can be written to streams. The class of each serializable object is encoded including the class name and signature of the class, the values of the object's fields and arrays, and the closure of any other objects referenced from the initial objects.
The method writeObject is used to write an object to the stream. Any object, including Strings and arrays, is written with writeObject. Multiple objects or primitives can be written to the stream. The objects must be read back from the corresponding ObjectInputstream with the same types and in the same order as they were written.
Primitive data types can also be written to the stream using the appropriate methods from DataOutput. Strings can also be written using the writeUTF method.
The default serialization mechanism for an object writes the class of the object, the class signature, and the values of all non-transient and non-static fields. References to other objects (except in transient or static fields) cause those objects to be written also. Multiple references to a single object are encoded using a reference sharing mechanism so that graphs of objects can be restored to the same shape as when the original was written.
For example to write an object that can be read by the example in ObjectInputStream
:
try (FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("t.tmp");
ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos)) {
oos.writeObject("Today");
oos.writeObject(LocalDateTime.now());
} catch (Exception ex) {
// handle exception
}
Serializable classes that require special handling during the serialization and deserialization process should implement methods with the following signatures:
private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream stream)
throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream stream)
throws IOException;
private void readObjectNoData()
throws ObjectStreamException;
The method name, modifiers, return type, and number and type of parameters must match exactly for the method to be used by serialization or deserialization. The methods should only be declared to throw checked exceptions consistent with these signatures.
The writeObject method is responsible for writing the state of the object for its particular class so that the corresponding readObject method can restore it. The method does not need to concern itself with the state belonging to the object's superclasses or subclasses. State is saved by writing the individual fields to the ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput.
Serialization does not write out the fields of any object that does not implement the java.io.Serializable interface. Subclasses of Objects that are not serializable can be serializable. In this case the non-serializable class must have a no-arg constructor to allow its fields to be initialized. In this case it is the responsibility of the subclass to save and restore the state of the non-serializable class. It is frequently the case that the fields of that class are accessible (public, package, or protected) or that there are get and set methods that can be used to restore the state.
Serialization of an object can be prevented by implementing writeObject and readObject methods that throw the NotSerializableException. The exception will be caught by the ObjectOutputStream and abort the serialization process.
Implementing the Externalizable interface allows the object to assume complete control over the contents and format of the object's serialized form. The methods of the Externalizable interface, writeExternal and readExternal, are called to save and restore the objects state. When implemented by a class they can write and read their own state using all of the methods of ObjectOutput and ObjectInput. It is the responsibility of the objects to handle any versioning that occurs.
Enum constants are serialized differently than ordinary serializable or externalizable objects. The serialized form of an enum constant consists solely of its name; field values of the constant are not transmitted. To serialize an enum constant, ObjectOutputStream writes the string returned by the constant's name method. Like other serializable or externalizable objects, enum constants can function as the targets of back references appearing subsequently in the serialization stream. The process by which enum constants are serialized cannot be customized; any class-specific writeObject and writeReplace methods defined by enum types are ignored during serialization. Similarly, any serialPersistentFields or serialVersionUID field declarations are also ignored--all enum types have a fixed serialVersionUID of 0L.
Primitive data, excluding serializable fields and externalizable data, is written to the ObjectOutputStream in block-data records. A block data record is composed of a header and data. The block data header consists of a marker and the number of bytes to follow the header. Consecutive primitive data writes are merged into one block-data record. The blocking factor used for a block-data record will be 1024 bytes. Each block-data record will be filled up to 1024 bytes, or be written whenever there is a termination of block-data mode. Calls to the ObjectOutputStream methods writeObject, defaultWriteObject and writeFields initially terminate any existing block-data record.
Records are serialized differently than ordinary serializable or externalizable objects, see record serialization.
Modifier and Type | Class | Description |
---|---|---|
static class |
ObjectOutputStream.PutField |
Provide programmatic access to the persistent fields to be written to ObjectOutput. |
baseWireHandle, PROTOCOL_VERSION_1, PROTOCOL_VERSION_2, SC_BLOCK_DATA, SC_ENUM, SC_EXTERNALIZABLE, SC_SERIALIZABLE, SC_WRITE_METHOD, SERIAL_FILTER_PERMISSION, STREAM_MAGIC, STREAM_VERSION, SUBCLASS_IMPLEMENTATION_PERMISSION, SUBSTITUTION_PERMISSION, TC_ARRAY, TC_BASE, TC_BLOCKDATA, TC_BLOCKDATALONG, TC_CLASS, TC_CLASSDESC, TC_ENDBLOCKDATA, TC_ENUM, TC_EXCEPTION, TC_LONGSTRING, TC_MAX, TC_NULL, TC_OBJECT, TC_PROXYCLASSDESC, TC_REFERENCE, TC_RESET, TC_STRING
Modifier | Constructor | Description |
---|---|---|
protected |
Provide a way for subclasses that are completely reimplementing ObjectOutputStream to not have to allocate private data just used by this implementation of ObjectOutputStream. |
|
Creates an ObjectOutputStream that writes to the specified OutputStream. |
Modifier and Type | Method | Description |
---|---|---|
protected void |
annotateClass |
Subclasses may implement this method to allow class data to be stored in the stream. |
protected void |
annotateProxyClass |
Subclasses may implement this method to store custom data in the stream along with descriptors for dynamic proxy classes. |
void |
close() |
Closes the stream. |
void |
defaultWriteObject() |
Write the non-static and non-transient fields of the current class to this stream. |
protected void |
drain() |
Drain any buffered data in ObjectOutputStream. |
protected boolean |
enableReplaceObject |
Enables the stream to do replacement of objects written to the stream. |
void |
flush() |
Flushes the stream. |
ObjectOutputStream.PutField |
putFields() |
Retrieve the object used to buffer persistent fields to be written to the stream. |
protected Object |
replaceObject |
This method will allow trusted subclasses of ObjectOutputStream to substitute one object for another during serialization. |
void |
reset() |
Reset will disregard the state of any objects already written to the stream. |
void |
useProtocolVersion |
Specify stream protocol version to use when writing the stream. |
void |
write |
Writes an array of bytes. |
void |
write |
Writes a sub array of bytes. |
void |
write |
Writes a byte. |
void |
writeBoolean |
Writes a boolean. |
void |
writeByte |
Writes an 8-bit byte. |
void |
writeBytes |
Writes a String as a sequence of bytes. |
void |
writeChar |
Writes a 16-bit char. |
void |
writeChars |
Writes a String as a sequence of chars. |
protected void |
writeClassDescriptor |
Write the specified class descriptor to the ObjectOutputStream. |
void |
writeDouble |
Writes a 64-bit double. |
void |
writeFields() |
Write the buffered fields to the stream. |
void |
writeFloat |
Writes a 32-bit float. |
void |
writeInt |
Writes a 32-bit int. |
void |
writeLong |
Writes a 64-bit long. |
final void |
writeObject |
Write the specified object to the ObjectOutputStream. |
protected void |
writeObjectOverride |
Method used by subclasses to override the default writeObject method. |
void |
writeShort |
Writes a 16-bit short. |
protected void |
writeStreamHeader() |
The writeStreamHeader method is provided so subclasses can append or prepend their own header to the stream. |
void |
writeUnshared |
Writes an "unshared" object to the ObjectOutputStream. |
void |
writeUTF |
Primitive data write of this String in modified UTF-8 format. |
nullOutputStream
public ObjectOutputStream(OutputStream out) throws IOException
If a security manager is installed, this constructor will check for the "enableSubclassImplementation" SerializablePermission when invoked directly or indirectly by the constructor of a subclass which overrides the ObjectOutputStream.putFields or ObjectOutputStream.writeUnshared methods.
out
- output stream to write toIOException
- if an I/O error occurs while writing stream headerSecurityException
- if untrusted subclass illegally overrides security-sensitive methodsNullPointerException
- if out
is null
protected ObjectOutputStream() throws IOException, SecurityException
If there is a security manager installed, this method first calls the security manager's checkPermission
method with a SerializablePermission("enableSubclassImplementation")
permission to ensure it's ok to enable subclassing.
SecurityException
- if a security manager exists and its checkPermission
method denies enabling subclassing.IOException
- if an I/O error occurs while creating this streampublic void useProtocolVersion(int version) throws IOException
This routine provides a hook to enable the current version of Serialization to write in a format that is backwards compatible to a previous version of the stream format.
Every effort will be made to avoid introducing additional backwards incompatibilities; however, sometimes there is no other alternative.
version
- use ProtocolVersion from java.io.ObjectStreamConstants.IllegalStateException
- if called after any objects have been serialized.IllegalArgumentException
- if invalid version is passed in.IOException
- if I/O errors occurpublic final void writeObject(Object obj) throws IOException
Exceptions are thrown for problems with the OutputStream and for classes that should not be serialized. All exceptions are fatal to the OutputStream, which is left in an indeterminate state, and it is up to the caller to ignore or recover the stream state.
writeObject
in interface ObjectOutput
obj
- the object to be writtenInvalidClassException
- Something is wrong with a class used by serialization.NotSerializableException
- Some object to be serialized does not implement the java.io.Serializable interface.IOException
- Any exception thrown by the underlying OutputStream.protected void writeObjectOverride(Object obj) throws IOException
obj
- object to be written to the underlying streamIOException
- if there are I/O errors while writing to the underlying streampublic void defaultWriteObject() throws IOException
IOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying OutputStream
public ObjectOutputStream.PutField putFields() throws IOException
IOException
- if I/O errors occurpublic void writeFields() throws IOException
IOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streamNotActiveException
- Called when a classes writeObject method was not called to write the state of the object.public void reset() throws IOException
IOException
- if reset() is invoked while serializing an object.protected void annotateClass(Class<?> cl) throws IOException
cl
- the class to annotate custom data forIOException
- Any exception thrown by the underlying OutputStream.protected void annotateProxyClass(Class<?> cl) throws IOException
This method is called exactly once for each unique proxy class descriptor in the stream. The default implementation of this method in ObjectOutputStream
does nothing.
The corresponding method in ObjectInputStream
is resolveProxyClass
. For a given subclass of ObjectOutputStream
that overrides this method, the resolveProxyClass
method in the corresponding subclass of ObjectInputStream
must read any data or objects written by annotateProxyClass
.
cl
- the proxy class to annotate custom data forIOException
- any exception thrown by the underlying OutputStream
protected Object replaceObject(Object obj) throws IOException
The ObjectOutputStream.writeObject method takes a parameter of type Object (as opposed to type Serializable) to allow for cases where non-serializable objects are replaced by serializable ones.
When a subclass is replacing objects it must ensure that either a complementary substitution must be made during deserialization or that the substituted object is compatible with every field where the reference will be stored. Objects whose type is not a subclass of the type of the field or array element abort the serialization by raising an exception and the object is not be stored.
This method is called only once when each object is first encountered. All subsequent references to the object will be redirected to the new object. This method should return the object to be substituted or the original object.
Null can be returned as the object to be substituted, but may cause NullPointerException
in classes that contain references to the original object since they may be expecting an object instead of null.
obj
- the object to be replacedIOException
- Any exception thrown by the underlying OutputStream.protected boolean enableReplaceObject(boolean enable) throws SecurityException
replaceObject(java.lang.Object)
method is called for every object being serialized. If object replacement is currently not enabled, and enable
is true, and there is a security manager installed, this method first calls the security manager's checkPermission
method with the SerializablePermission("enableSubstitution")
permission to ensure that the caller is permitted to enable the stream to do replacement of objects written to the stream.
enable
- true for enabling use of replaceObject
for every object being serializedSecurityException
- if a security manager exists and its checkPermission
method denies enabling the stream to do replacement of objects written to the stream.protected void writeStreamHeader() throws IOException
IOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streamprotected void writeClassDescriptor(ObjectStreamClass desc) throws IOException
readClassDescriptor
, should then be overridden to reconstitute the class descriptor from its custom stream representation. By default, this method writes class descriptors according to the format defined in the Java Object Serialization Specification. Note that this method will only be called if the ObjectOutputStream is not using the old serialization stream format (set by calling ObjectOutputStream's useProtocolVersion
method). If this serialization stream is using the old format (PROTOCOL_VERSION_1
), the class descriptor will be written internally in a manner that cannot be overridden or customized.
desc
- class descriptor to write to the streamIOException
- If an I/O error has occurred.public void write(int val) throws IOException
write
in interface DataOutput
write
in interface ObjectOutput
write
in class OutputStream
val
- the byte to be written to the streamIOException
- If an I/O error has occurred.public void write(byte[] buf) throws IOException
write
in interface DataOutput
write
in interface ObjectOutput
write
in class OutputStream
buf
- the data to be writtenIOException
- If an I/O error has occurred.public void write(byte[] buf, int off, int len) throws IOException
write
in interface DataOutput
write
in interface ObjectOutput
write
in class OutputStream
buf
- the data to be writtenoff
- the start offset in the datalen
- the number of bytes that are writtenIOException
- if an I/O error occurs. In particular, an IOException
is thrown if the output stream is closed.IndexOutOfBoundsException
- If off
is negative, len
is negative, or len
is greater than b.length - off
public void flush() throws IOException
flush
in interface Flushable
flush
in interface ObjectOutput
flush
in class OutputStream
IOException
- if an I/O error occurs.protected void drain() throws IOException
IOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void close() throws IOException
close
in interface AutoCloseable
close
in interface Closeable
close
in interface ObjectOutput
close
in class OutputStream
IOException
- If an I/O error has occurred.public void writeBoolean(boolean val) throws IOException
writeBoolean
in interface DataOutput
val
- the boolean to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeByte(int val) throws IOException
writeByte
in interface DataOutput
val
- the byte value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeShort(int val) throws IOException
writeShort
in interface DataOutput
val
- the short value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeChar(int val) throws IOException
writeChar
in interface DataOutput
val
- the char value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeInt(int val) throws IOException
writeInt
in interface DataOutput
val
- the integer value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeLong(long val) throws IOException
writeLong
in interface DataOutput
val
- the long value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeFloat(float val) throws IOException
writeFloat
in interface DataOutput
val
- the float value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeDouble(double val) throws IOException
writeDouble
in interface DataOutput
val
- the double value to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeBytes(String str) throws IOException
writeBytes
in interface DataOutput
str
- the String of bytes to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeChars(String str) throws IOException
writeChars
in interface DataOutput
str
- the String of chars to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying streampublic void writeUTF(String str) throws IOException
writeUTF
in interface DataOutput
str
- the String to be writtenIOException
- if I/O errors occur while writing to the underlying stream
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Documentation extracted from Debian's OpenJDK Development Kit package.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
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