ADDENDUM (NB I'm using release boost 1.44 with Visual C++ 2008 SP1 with the latest patches) test_dll_plugin in the serialization test suite seems to suffer from the same problem I'm having I've created two standard empty win32 console projects in Visual Studio: * one to build a DLL with polymorphic_base.cpp and polymorphic_derived2.cpp * one to build an EXE client for the above DLL containing only test_dll_plugin.cpp The assert at line 82 of test_dll_plugin.cpp fails at runtime, showing the EXE does not have registered ETI for the polymorphic_derived2 type linked into the DLL. What could be the problem here? -----Original Message----- From: Massaro Alessio Sent: 29 September 2010 18:06 To: boost-users@lists.boost.org Subject: RE: [Boost-users] [serialization] can I serialize concrete types that are not acessible where the archive is created Thanks for the pointer Robert I trawled up the following 2 items of doc, but made little process http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_44_0/libs/serialization/doc/special.html#dll... http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_44_0/libs/serialization/doc/special.html#plu... If I follow the documentation I get a "derived class not registered..." at runtime. So I looked at the unit tests. The one for my case seems to be test_dll_plugin.cpp. In that test polymorphic_base (the interface type known statically at the poiont of serialization) uses the extended_type_info_no_rtti ETI scheme. This is in contrast to polymorphic_derived2 (the concrete type UNknown statically at the poiont of serialization) using the extended_type_info_typeid ETI scheme. Do I *have to* use no_rtti for my abstract interface types? If I use the typeid scheme everything builds but I get "derived class not registered..." at runtime. If I follow the test_dll_plugin.cpp pattern, then the code STATIC_ASSERTS extended_type_info_no_rtti.hpp(87) at the point of serialization. The STATIC_ASSERT comment says // if your program traps here - you failed to // export a guid for this type. the no_rtti // system requires export for types serialized // as pointers. Adding BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_KEY(boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething>) or BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_GUID(boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething>, "xyz") to serialize.cpp will make no difference. I really can't figure out what's wrong. I hope someone out there can spot the problem! ##################### DLL/MODULE 1 ##################################### -------------------------------------------- interface.hpp #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp> struct DLL_EXPORT I_DoSomething { virtual const char * get_key() const = 0; virtual void doIt() = 0; static boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething> create(); // static factory private: friend class boost::serialization::access; template<class Archive> void serialize(Archive & /* ar */, const unsigned int /* file_version */); } #include <boost/serialization/assume_abstract.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/export.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/type_info_implementation.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/extended_type_info_no_rtti.hpp> BOOST_SERIALIZATION_ASSUME_ABSTRACT(I_DoSomething) BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_KEY(I_DoSomething) BOOST_CLASS_TYPE_INFO(I_DoSomething, boost::serialization::extended_type_info_no_rtti<I_DoSomething>) -------------------------------------------- ConcreteType.cpp #include "interface.hpp" class ConcreteType : public I_DoSomething { virtual const char * get_key() const { return "ConcreteType"; } ... ..... private: void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int /*version*/) { ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(I_DoSomething); ar & ... } } boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething> I_DoSomething::create() { return new ConcreteType(); } #include <boost/serialization/export.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/extended_type_info_typeid.hpp> BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_KEY(ConcreteType) BOOST_CLASS_TYPE_INFO(ConcreteType, boost::serialization::extended_type_info_typeid<ConcreteType>) BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_IMPLEMENT(ConcreteType) #include <boost/archive/xml_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/xml_iarchive.hpp> template DLLEXPORT void ConcreteType::serialize(boost::archive::xml_oarchive & ar, const unsigned int version); template DLLEXPORT void ConcreteType::serialize(boost::archive::xml_iarchive & ar, const unsigned int version); #include <boost/serialization/factory.hpp> BOOST_SERIALIZATION_FACTORY_0(ConcreteType) ##################### DLL 2 which linked with DLL 1 ##################### -------------------------------------------- serialize.cpp #include "interface.hpp" #include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/shared_ptr.hpp> BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_KEY(boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething>) ... boost::shared_ptr<I_DoSomething> obj = I_DoSomething::create(); boost::text_oarchive oa; oa << obj; // <-------- STATIC_ASSERTS at extended_type_info_no_rtti.hpp(87) ...