Boost Serialization Binary Archive giving incorrect output

Question

I am trying to Serialize a class.

Class definition:

class StartPeerSessionRequest {
public:
    StartPeerSessionRequest();
    virtual ~StartPeerSessionRequest();
    void composeRequestwithHardCodeValues();
    void save();
    stringstream serializedRequest;
    /*boost::serialization::binary_object serlreq;*/

private:
    StartPeerSessionRequest(const StartPeerSessionRequest &);

    uint16_t mProtocolVersion;
    uint16_t mSessionFlags;
    uint16_t mMaxResponseLength;
    string   mMake;
    string   mModel;
    string   mSerialNumber;
    uint8_t  mTrackDelay;
    string   mHeadUnitModel;
    string   mCarModelYear;
    string   mVin;
    uint16_t mVehicleMileage;
    uint8_t  mShoutFormat;
    uint8_t  mNotificationInterval;

    friend class boost::serialization::access;
    template <typename Archive> void serialize(Archive &ar, const unsigned int version);
};

StartPeerSessionRequest::StartPeerSessionRequest() {

    mProtocolVersion      = 1 * 10000 + 14 * 100 + 4;
    mSessionFlags         = 1;
    mMaxResponseLength    = 0;
    mMake                 = "MyMake";
    mModel                = "MyModel";
    mSerialNumber         = "10000";
    mTrackDelay           = 0;
    mHeadUnitModel        = "Headunit";
    mCarModelYear         = "2014";
    mVin                  = "1234567980";
    mVehicleMileage       = 1000;
    mShoutFormat          = 3;
    mNotificationInterval = 1;
}

template <class Archive> void StartPeerSessionRequest::serialize(Archive &ar, const unsigned int version) {
    ar & mProtocolVersion;
    ar & mSessionFlags;
    ar & mMaxResponseLength;
    ar & mMake;
    ar & mModel;
    ar & mSerialNumber;
    ar & mTrackDelay;
    ar & mHeadUnitModel;
    ar & mCarModelYear;
    ar & mVin;
    ar & mVehicleMileage;
    ar & mShoutFormat;
    ar & mNotificationInterval;
}

void StartPeerSessionRequest::save() {
    boost::archive::binary_oarchive oa(serlreq, boost::archive::no_header);
    oa << (*this);
    /*cout<<"\n binary_oarchive :"<<serlreq.size();*/

    boost::archive::text_oarchive ota(serializedRequest, boost::archive::no_header);
    ota << (*this);
    cout << "\n text_oarchive :" << serializedRequest.str() << "size :" << serializedRequest.str().size();
}

serializedRequest.str.size() provides me a length of 87

Actually it should provide me 65 bytes. (I've counted u can figure that out from the constructor)

I suspect it is appending lengths in between.

I have tried using text_archive also it doesnt work.

What I need is to just plain serialize class members as it is.

I guess i need to use some traits or wrappers.

Please let me know

Thanks

Answer 1

Okay, so, just to see how I'd do, I've tried to reach the optimum sizes I calculated on the back of my napkin:

I can see how you'd expect 57, 63, or 75 bytes

mProtocolVersion      = 1*10000+14*100+4; // 2 bytes
mSessionFlags         = 1;                // 2 bytes
mMaxResponseLength    = 0;                // 2 bytes
mMake                 = "MyMake";         // 6 bytes + length
mModel                = "MyModel";        // 7 bytes + length
mSerialNumber         = "10000";          // 5 bytes + length
mTrackDelay           = 0;                // 1 byte
mHeadUnitModel        = "Headunit";       // 8 bytes + length
mCarModelYear         = "2014";           // 4 bytes + length
mVin                  = "1234567980";     // 10 bytes + length
mVehicleMileage       = 1000;             // 2 byte
mShoutFormat          = 3;                // 1 byte
mNotificationInterval = 1;                // 1 byte
// -------------------------------------- // 51 bytes + 6 x length

In this instance, I created binary serialization code using Boost Spirit (Karma for serialization and Qi for de-serialization). I made the size of the length field configurable (8,16,32 or 64 bit unsigned).

Here's a working proof of concept: Live On Coliru

generate()

The const generate member function delegates the work to helper functions in a separate namespace:

template <typename Container>
bool generate(Container& bytes) const {
    auto out = std::back_inserter(bytes);

    using my_serialization_helpers::do_generate;
    return do_generate(out, mProtocolVersion)
        && do_generate(out, mSessionFlags)
        && do_generate(out, mMaxResponseLength)
        && do_generate(out, mMake)
        && do_generate(out, mModel)
        && do_generate(out, mSerialNumber)
        && do_generate(out, mTrackDelay)
        && do_generate(out, mHeadUnitModel)
        && do_generate(out, mCarModelYear)
        && do_generate(out, mVin)
        && do_generate(out, mVehicleMileage)
        && do_generate(out, mShoutFormat)
        && do_generate(out, mNotificationInterval);
}

Note that

• do_generate overloads can be freely added as required for future types
• the container can easily be switched from e.g. std::vector<unsigned char>, to e.g. boost::interprocess::containers::string<char, char_traits<char>, boost::interprocess::allocator<char, boost::interprocess::managed_shared_memory::segment_manager> >.

parse()

The parse method is very similar except it delegates to do_parse overloads to do the work.

Testing

The test program roundtrips with all possible configurations:

• 8-bit length field, net 57 bytes, with boost serialization: 70
• 16-bit length field, net 63 bytes, with boost serialization: 76
• 32-bit length field, net 75 bytes, with boost serialization: 88
• 64-bit length field, net 99 bytes, with boost serialization: 112

As you can see it's not even that outrageous that the natural Boost Serialization solution would take 107 bytes on my system (it's only 8 bytes more than my last configuration).

Note also, that since the Karma generators all take any output iterator, it should be relatively easy to wire it directly into the low-level Boost Archive operations for performance and to avoid allocating intermediate storage.