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java.io
Class ObjectStreamClass


java.lang.Object
  extended by java.io.ObjectStreamClass
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable 
public class ObjectStreamClass
extends Object
implements Serializable

Serialization's descriptor for classes. It contains the name and serialVersionUID of the class. The ObjectStreamClass for a specific class loaded in this Java VM can be found/created using the lookup method.

The algorithm to compute the SerialVersionUID is described in Object Serialization Specification, Section 4.6, Stream Unique Identifiers Object Serialization Specification, Section 4.6, Stream Unique Identifiers .

Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
ObjectStreamField , Object Serialization Specification, Section 4, Class Descriptors Object Serialization Specification, Section 4, Class Descriptors , Serialized Form

Field Summary
static  ObjectStreamField [] NO_FIELDS
          serialPersistentFields value indicating no serializable fields
 
Method Summary
  Class <?> forClass ()
          Return the class in the local VM that this version is mapped to.
  ObjectStreamField getField ( String  name)
          Get the field of this class by name.
  ObjectStreamField [] getFields ()
          Return an array of the fields of this serializable class.
  String getName ()
          Returns the name of the class described by this descriptor.
 long getSerialVersionUID ()
          Return the serialVersionUID for this class.
static  ObjectStreamClass lookup ( Class <?> cl)
          Find the descriptor for a class that can be serialized.
static  ObjectStreamClass lookupAny ( Class <?> cl)
          Returns the descriptor for any class, regardless of whether it implements Serializable .
  String toString ()
          Return a string describing this ObjectStreamClass.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang. Object
clone , equals , finalize , getClass , hashCode , notify , notifyAll , wait , wait , wait
 

Field Detail

NO_FIELDS


public static final ObjectStreamField[] NO_FIELDS
serialPersistentFields value indicating no serializable fields

Method Detail

lookup


public static ObjectStreamClass lookup(Class<?> cl)
Find the descriptor for a class that can be serialized. Creates an ObjectStreamClass instance if one does not exist yet for class. Null is returned if the specified class does not implement java.io.Serializable or java.io.Externalizable.

Parameters:
cl - class for which to get the descriptor
Returns:
the class descriptor for the specified class

lookupAny


public static ObjectStreamClass lookupAny(Class<?> cl)
Returns the descriptor for any class, regardless of whether it implements Serializable .

Parameters:
cl - class for which to get the descriptor
Returns:
the class descriptor for the specified class
Since:
1.6

getName


public String getName()
Returns the name of the class described by this descriptor. This method returns the name of the class in the format that is used by the Class.getName() method.

Returns:
a string representing the name of the class

getSerialVersionUID


public long getSerialVersionUID()
Return the serialVersionUID for this class. The serialVersionUID defines a set of classes all with the same name that have evolved from a common root class and agree to be serialized and deserialized using a common format. NonSerializable classes have a serialVersionUID of 0L.

Returns:
the SUID of the class described by this descriptor

forClass


public Class<?> forClass()
Return the class in the local VM that this version is mapped to. Null is returned if there is no corresponding local class.

Returns:
the Class instance that this descriptor represents

getFields


public ObjectStreamField[] getFields()
Return an array of the fields of this serializable class.

Returns:
an array containing an element for each persistent field of this class. Returns an array of length zero if there are no fields.
Since:
1.2

getField


public ObjectStreamField getField(String name)
Get the field of this class by name.

Parameters:
name - the name of the data field to look for
Returns:
The ObjectStreamField object of the named field or null if there is no such named field.

toString


public String toString()
Return a string describing this ObjectStreamClass.

Overrides:
toString in class Object
Returns:
a string representation of the object.