Could somebody explain this to me?

[Bob Sherry]

Please consider the following Java Program:

import java.io.*;

class Player {
Player()
{ System.out.println( "base called" ); }
}

public class CardPlayer extends Player implements Serializable {
CardPlayer()
{ System.out.println( "dev called" ); }
public static void main( String args[] )
{
CardPlayer c1 = new CardPlayer();
try {
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream( "play.txt" );
ObjectOutputStream os = new ObjectOutputStream( fos );
os.writeObject(c1);
os.close();
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream( "play.txt" );
ObjectInputStream is = new ObjectInputStream( fis );
System.out.println( "before" );
CardPlayer c2 = (CardPlayer) is.readObject();
System.out.println( "after" );
is.close();
} catch ( Exception x ) { }
}
}

When the object is read back off the disk, I would expect that there would
be a call to the constructor for CardPlayer and a call to the constructor for Player. However, I am only getting the constructor call for Player. I am hoping that somebody can tell why this is.

Thanks
Bob

~
~

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Hi Bob,

Welcome to JavaRanch!

Basically because Player is not serializable, and CardPlayer is. A Serializable instance is normally deserialized without calling its constructor. But if the base class isn't serializable, the serialization mechanism won't store its state; instead, the base part of the object will be initialized with a constructor call.

If you mark Player as Serialized, you'll see that printout disappear.