Reliably convert any object to String and then back again

Question

Is there a reliable way to convert any object to a String and then back again to the same Object? I\'ve seen some examples of people converting them using toString()

Answer 1

One way is to use JSON. For implementation specific in Java, the answer might be given in this post:

java code corresponding to Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(Object source,Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings()) in .net?

Using JSON is reliable enough that it's used for web application development (Ajax).

Answer 2

This is the code:

try {
    ByteArrayOutputStream bo = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    ObjectOutputStream so = new ObjectOutputStream(bo);
    so.writeObject(stringList);
    so.flush();
    redisString = new String(Base64.encode(bo.toByteArray()));       
} 
catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

try {
    byte b[] = Base64.decode(redisString.getBytes()); 
    ByteArrayInputStream bi = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    ObjectInputStream si = new ObjectInputStream(bi);
    List<String> stringList2 = (List<String>)si.readObject();
    System.out.println(stringList2.get(1));          
} 
catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();         
}

Answer 3

You can use SerializationUtils from org.apache.commons.
It provides the methods serialize and deserialize

Answer 4

Yes, it is Serialization You can use, ObjectInputStream.readObject and ObjectOutputStream.writeObject. Please see below example:

MyClass myClass = new MyClass();
FileOutputStream fileStream = new FileOutputStream("myObjectFile.txt");
ObjectOutputStream os = new ObjectOutputStream(fileStream);
os.writeObject(os);
os.close();

FileInputStream fileInStream = new FileInputStream("myObjectFile.txt");
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(fileInStream);
MyClass myClass2 = ois.readObject();
ois.close();

Answer 5

Yes, it is called serialization!

 String serializedObject = "";

 // serialize the object
 try {
     ByteArrayOutputStream bo = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
     ObjectOutputStream so = new ObjectOutputStream(bo);
     so.writeObject(myObject);
     so.flush();
     serializedObject = bo.toString();
 } catch (Exception e) {
     System.out.println(e);
 }

 // deserialize the object
 try {
     byte b[] = serializedObject.getBytes(); 
     ByteArrayInputStream bi = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
     ObjectInputStream si = new ObjectInputStream(bi);
     MyObject obj = (MyObject) si.readObject();
 } catch (Exception e) {
     System.out.println(e);
 }

Answer 6

Serialize to byte array, convert to Base64. Then decode Base64 back to byte array and deserialize.