PySerialization

Set of classes allowing easy serialization of simple and composite types.

The Python pickle module can flexibly serialize and deserialize most Python data types. However, due to it's flexibility, it is not just as trivial to interpret these files without the pickle module, such as in another programming language. Additionally, pickle has it's limitations on what can be serialized, and anything created with the pyserialization module is gaurenteed to serialize.

This module includes classes that explicitly define their serialization/deserialization procedure. They are stored as compactly as possible without extra meta data, as type information is stored in the classes themselves. Concrete classes are provided for basic types and base classes provided to easily create new serializable types made with existing types. All types inherit from Serializable

The provided concrete types are:

• SerialInt family
• SerialHalf/SerialFloat/SerialDouble
• SerialChar
• SerialString/SerialAsciiString

The provided base types are:

• SerialList
• SerialEnum
• Composite
• Union

Optionally the following concret types are provided with additional modules

• SerialNdArray (numpy)
• SerialImage (PIL)

Serialization is performed through the method data = serializable.to_bytes(). This will return a python bytes object that can be later deserialized. An object is deserialized through obj, index = SerializableType.from_bytes(data). This returns the deserialized object along with the index of the end of the data. Alternativly, an existing Serializable can be reset with index = SerializableType.load_in_place(data). This just returns the index of the end of the data.

Most types mutable and can be set using a SerialType.set() method and the underlaying data can be accessed using the SerialType.get() method.

The concrete types are serialized compactly using the python struct module. The optional types are serialized using their respective modules. The base types are used to create new concrete types using existing serializable types. They work as follows:

SerialList

A homogenious python list that can be serialized. A new SerialList type is creating by calling serial_list(SerialType). For example:

class IntList(serial_list(SerialU16)):
    pass

This will create a new list type that can hold U16 integers

SerialEnum

Used to store a selected enum of a Python enum.Enum class. Example:

class Color(enum.Enum):
    RED = 'red'
    BLUE = 'blue'
    GREEN = 'green'

class SerialColor(serial_enum(Color0):
    pass

color1 = SerialColor(Color.BLUE)
color2 = SerialColor.from_bytes(color1.to_bytes())[0]

# color2.get() == 'Color.BLUE'
# Color2.get().value == 'blue'

Composite

Possibly the most used base type. Used to create a new Serializable type that is a composite of multiple other existing types. All types will be serialized and deserialized as a unit. Assigning to composite subtype will call that types set method if it exists. If the subtype has a get method, retrieving that type will return type.get() instead.The composite types are specified as class attributes. Example:

class Test(Composite):
    a = SerialU16
    b = SerialString
    c = SerialDouble

composite1 = Test()
composite1.a = 42             # Calls SerialU16.set(42)
composite1.b = 'hello world'
composite1.c = 3.4

composite2 = Test.from_bytes(composite1.to_bytes())[0]

# composite2.a == 42          # Calls SerialU16.get()
# composite2.b == 'hello world'
# composite2.c == 3.4

Union

Will save anyone one of a number of Serializable types. Can only have the value of one type at a time and knows what type to recover. Can change the type using Union.set. Can use attribute setting if the subtype has a set method. Using attribute getting will return subtype.get() if the subtype has a get method. Example

class Test(Union):
    a = SerialU16
    b = SerialString
    c = SerialDouble

union1 = Test()
union1.a = 42             # union1.get() == SerialU16(42)
union1.b = 'hello world'  # union1.get() == SerialString('hello world')
# print(union1.a) -> ValueError

union2 = Test.from_bytes(union1.to_bytes())[0]

# composite2.b == 'hello world'   # Calls SerialU16.get()
# composite2.get() == 'SerialSting('hello world')