Re: [PHP4BETA] class serialize/unserialize implementation.

On Thu, 16 Sep 1999, Zeev Suraski wrote: > At 14:38 16/09/1999 , Stig Sæther Bakken wrote: > >Andi Gutmans wrote: > > > > > > At 01:23 PM 9/15/99 +0200, Thies C. Arntzen wrote: > > > >hi - > > > > > > > >the problem i see is that you *NEED* to have the class your unserializing > > > >defined *BEFORE* you can unserialize i't instance - even though it seems > > > >logical i don't know if people will get bitten by this! > > > > > > > >the benefit is that you get a fully working instance fron unserialize > > > >instead of the "dumb" array you got in PHP3 > > > > > > > >also 'cause i had to put the class-name into the serialized data. it > > > >probably won't "unserialize" when using php3. (people that store > > > >serialized data in a file/db may get bitten by this!). > > > > > > > >the next time we come up with a new format (i hope never!) we need to make > > > >sure that we have a version number and a magic-cookie - so that we can > > > >mark incompatible changes! > > > > > > > >comments? > > > > > > Only comment I have is the obvious. Serializing the class name is > > > definitely the way to do it. People have to be disciplined enough to have > > > the class defined before the call to unserialize. > > > >Andi, the Zend feature list mentions run-time binding of function > >names. I assume this means that it is easy to implement some > >auto-loading mechanism. If Zend had run-time binding of class names > >too, object serialization would become child's play. I have no idea of > >what I'm asking though :-) > > Well, it's very easy to implement this at the 'application' level. > > You could instruct people to store their class definitions in .pclass > files. Then, when you unserialize an object of type ClassName, and > ClassName is not serialized - you can check for ClassName.pclass, and try > to execute it (unlike PHP 3.0, it's trivial to compile&execute a file in > PHP 4.0 with no need for any special effects). Then you try to find the > class name again. This implement transparent autoloading at the > unserialize() level. zeev, are u saying that the unserialize function should load&execute external files by itself? i would be happy to do so... a few more things: - a volatile flag would be nice for instance variable that should NOT be serialized. - have a standard hook in a class (to be called before serializing and after deserialisation) hmm, tc > > Zeev > -- > Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com> http://www.zend.com/ > For a PGP public key, finger bourbon@netvision.net.il > > Thies C. Arntzen "One Big-Mac, Small Fries and a Coke!" Digital Collections Phone +49 40 235350 Fax +49 40 23535180 Hammerbrookstr. 93 20097 Hamburg / Germany