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Object Serialization

LITIENGINE uses XML serialization for saving and loading game data, including resource bundles and configuration.

Built-in Serialization

The engine automatically handles:

  • .litidata resource bundles
  • config.properties configuration
  • Map data (.tmx format)

XmlUtilities

XML serialization utilities:

import de.gurkenlabs.litiengine.util.io.XmlUtilities;

// Save object to XML file
XmlUtilities.save(object, "path/to/file.xml");

// Load object from XML
MyObject obj = XmlUtilities.read(MyObject.class, "path/to/file.xml");

// Convert to XML string
String xml = XmlUtilities.toString(object);

Serializable Objects

Objects must have proper annotations for XML serialization:

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.*;

@XmlRootElement(name = "playerData")
public class PlayerData {

  @XmlAttribute
  private String name;

  @XmlElement
  private int level;

  @XmlElement
  private int experience;

  // Required no-arg constructor
  public PlayerData() {}

  // Getters and setters...
}

Custom Save Data

public class SaveData {
  private String playerName;
  private int currentLevel;

  public void save(String filename) {
    XmlUtilities.save(this, filename);
  }

  public static SaveData load(String filename) {
    return XmlUtilities.read(SaveData.class, filename);
  }
}

See Also