serializing an arbitrary data structure into a flat buffer (raw contiguousmemory block)

A

Alfonso Morra

Hi,

I am writing a messaging library which will allow me to send a generic
message structure with custom "payloads".

In many cases, a message must store a non-linear data structure (i.e.
"payload") using pointers. Examples of these are binary trees, hash
tables etc. Thus, the message itself contains only a pointer to the
actual data. When the message is sent to the same processor, these
pointers point to the original locations, which are within the address
space of the same processor. However, when such a message is sent to
other processors, these pointers will point to invalid locations.

I need a way to ``serialize'' (or pack) my message structures into a
contiguous raw memory block (and then be able to de-serialize or
"unpack" them at the other end.

I just need a simple example, using a simple structure that contains
pointers (say a ptr to another struct, or a char*) so that I can build
on from that.

Searches on Google over the last few days have yielded nothing useful.

Thanks
 

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