Re: [Boost-users] Serialization newbie needs help

From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-08-21 09:27:55

Jeff Flinn wrote:
> Dominick Layfield wrote:

>> My problem is that I just don't see when pointer serialization would
>> be a big win.  But I can't tell if I just have a limited
>> perspective.  That's why I was genuinely hoping that you could
>> provide a concrete example.
>
> See http://www.adi.com/products_sim_ad_de.htm. This product maintains
> numerous connections between model ports. Among numerous other
> under-the-hood pointers, there are containers of connections which are
> pairs of boost::shared_ptr<Port>'s. The state of the entire system is
> saved/loaded to/from file using boost::serialization. This would be
> undoable without the ability to serialize pointers, and such a
> facility in my mind could not be called a serialization library.

You are the second person to cite an example of serializing shared_ptr. The 
question is about raw pointers.