Serializable

to make an object serializable is easy:

// extend from any ZFObject type, and implement from ZFSerializable
zfclass MyObject : zfextend MyParent, zfimplement ZFSerializable {
    ZFOBJECT_DECLARE(MyObject, MyParent)
    ZFIMPLEMENT_DECLARE(ZFSerializable)
 
    // normal property value would be serialized automatically
    ZFPROPERTY_ASSIGN(zfindex, myProperty)
 
    // object type property can be serialized automatically
    // if it's serializable
    ZFPROPERTY_RETAIN(SomeSerializable *, mySerializableProperty)
};

once declared, the object can be serialized by:

zfobj<MyObject> obj;
 
// serialize to an data holder,
// which can be converted to raw data and write to file,
// you may also convert it to xml or json or other data formats
ZFSerializableData data = ZFObjectToData(obj);
 
// serialize object from existing data
zfauto serializedObject = ZFObjectFromData(data);

Advanced

if any of contents of your object can't be serialized automatically, you may override some methods to supply your own serialize logic:

zfclass MyObject : zfextend ZFObject, zfimplement ZFSerializable {
    ZFOBJECT_DECLARE(MyObject, ZFObject)
    ZFIMPLEMENT_DECLARE(ZFSerializable)
 
protected:
    virtual zfbool serializableOnSerializeFromData(
            ZF_IN const ZFSerializableData &serializableData
            , ZF_OUT_OPT zfstring *outErrorHint = zfnull
            , ZF_OUT_OPT ZFSerializableData *outErrorPos = zfnull
            ) {
        if(!zfsuperI(ZFSerializable)::serializableOnSerializeFromData(serializableData, outErrorHint, outErrorPos)) {return zffalse;}
 
        // serialize your type from serializableData
        // recommended to use ZFSerializableUtilSerializeAttributeFromData series
        return zftrue;
    }
    virtual zfbool serializableOnSerializeToData(
            ZF_IN_OUT ZFSerializableData &serializableData
            , ZF_IN ZFSerializable *referencedOwnerOrNull
            , ZF_OUT_OPT zfstring *outErrorHint = zfnull
            ) {
        if(!zfsuperI(ZFSerializable)::serializableOnSerializeToData(serializableData, outErrorHint, outErrorPos)) {return zffalse;}
 
        // serialize your type to serializableData
        // recommended to use ZFSerializableUtilSerializeAttributeFromData series
        return zftrue;
    }
private:
    YourNotSerializableType data;
};

for detailed usage, please refer to ZFSerializable