Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Name

ObjectStreamClass

Synopsis

This class represents a class that is being serialized. An ObjectStreamClass object contains the name of a class, its unique version identifier, and the name and type of the fields that constitute the serialization format for the class. getSerialVersionUID( ) returns a unique version identifier for the class. It returns either the value of the private serialVersionUID field of the class or a computed value that is based upon the public API of the class. In Java 1.2 and later, getFields( ) returns an array of ObjectStreamField objects that represent the names and types of the fields of the class to be serialized. getField( ) returns a single ObjectStreamField object that represents a single named field. By default, these methods use all the fields of a class except those that are static or transient. However, this default set of fields can be overridden by declaring a private serialPersistentFields field in the class. The value of this field should be the desired array of ObjectStreamField objects.

ObjectStreamClass class does not have a constructor; you should use the static lookup( ) method to obtain an ObjectStreamClass object for a given Class object. The forClass( ) instance method performs the opposite operation; it returns the Class object that corresponds to a given ObjectStreamClass. Most applications never need to use this class.

Figure 9-39. java.io.ObjectStreamClass ...