Serialize a java.awt.geom.Area

Question

I have the need to serialize an Area object (java.awt.geom.Area) in a socket. However it doesn\'t seem to be serializable. Is there a way to do such thing? Maybe by converti

Answer 1

Since Java 1.6 seems like there is a more formal way of doing this.

All you have to do is convert the Area object to a Path2D.Double (or Path2D.Float) object (which is Serializable) with its corresponding append method, taking also into account the winding rule at construction time (or even later, with a corresponding setter that exists).

To convert from Path2D.Double to Area, just use the Area's constructor which accepts a Shape.

import java.awt.geom.AffineTransform;
import java.awt.geom.Area;
import java.awt.geom.Ellipse2D;
import java.awt.geom.Path2D;
import java.awt.geom.PathIterator;
import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;

public class SerializeArea {

    public static Path2D.Double toPath2D(final Area a) {
        final PathIterator pi = a.getPathIterator(new AffineTransform());
        final Path2D.Double path = new Path2D.Double();
        switch (pi.getWindingRule()) {
            case PathIterator.WIND_EVEN_ODD: path.setWindingRule(Path2D.WIND_EVEN_ODD); break;
            case PathIterator.WIND_NON_ZERO: path.setWindingRule(Path2D.WIND_NON_ZERO); break;
            default: throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unimplemented winding rule.");
        }
        path.append(pi, false);
        return path;
    }

    public static Area toArea(final Path2D path) {
        return new Area(path);
    }

    public static void main(final String[] args) {
        final Area area = new Area(new Ellipse2D.Double(0, 0, 100, 100));
        area.intersect(new Area(new Rectangle2D.Double(0, 25, 100, 50))); //Creating something like a capsule.

        System.out.println(toArea(toPath2D(area)).equals(area)); //Prints true.
    }
}