Saving a TObject to a File

Question

How can one save an Object, in its current state, to a file? So that it can immediately be read and restored with all its variables.

Answer 1

If you descend your object from TComponent, you can use some built-in functionality to stream the object to a file. I think this only works well for simple objects.

Some sample code to get you started:

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
  Classes;

type
  TMyClass = class(TComponent)
  private
    FMyInteger: integer;
    FMyBool: boolean;
    FMyString: string;
  public
    procedure ToFile(AFileName: string);
  published
    property MyInteger: integer read FMyInteger write FMyInteger;
    property MyString: string read FMyString write FMyString;
    property MyBool: boolean read FMyBool write FMyBool;
  end;

implementation

{ TMyClass }

procedure TMyClass.ToFile(AFileName: string);
var
  MyStream: TFileStream;
begin
  MyStream := TFileStream.Create(AFileName);
  try
    Mystream.WriteComponent(Self);
  finally
    MyStream.Free;
  end;
end;

end.