[RESOLVED] [2005] Saving Part of Class to a File...

Hello all. I'm trying to finish up the last finishing touches on this project i've been working on. I'm reworking my file saving method to use a binary method of saving rather than simply serializing my class as I was doing before.

My problem comes in when I get into the more complex areas of my class. Up until this point i'm basically using a FileStream to create a file for saving to, and then saving out all of the info in my class by looping through all the objects that have my class type in the app. So far it's been pretty easy b/c i've only been saving integers and strings.

To begin let me explain my basic class structure for the app:

Code:

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Namespace Crystal
  Enum ColumnType
  Enum PriorityType

  Public Class Design

  Public Class Field
      Property Columns as ArrayList
      Property Name as String
      Property Nodes as ArrayList
  Public Class FieldCollection
      Inherits CollectionBase
  Public Class FieldColumn
  Public Class FieldNode
      Property FieldParent as Field
      Property ListItemInfo as ListViewItem
      Property CategoryList as String
      Property Notes as String
      Property Images as ArrayList
  Public Class FieldNodeCollection
      Inherits CollectionBase

  Public Class Category
  Public Class CategoryCollection
      Inherits CollectionBase
  Public Class Image
End Namespace

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I won't trouble you with the full source, b/c i don't think its necessary. Just so you understand the hierarchy, i'm trying now to save a FieldNode, that is i'm trying to save:

FieldCollection-->Field-->FieldNodeCollection-->FieldNode

I'm not sure whether or not I should save the actual full FieldParent field that the first property is referring to within my FieldNode, or whether I should some how save a type of reference to the Field it refers to in the program. The latter seems improbable to me since VB doesn't seem to use pointers as a language like c++ would. Does anyone have any ideas how I could save a parent property that is meant to reference a Field object inside of a FieldNode in my app?

Thanks in advance.

It's late and I'm confused so this may not make sense. How about adding string properties ID and FieldParentID to the FieldNode class? You can then recreate the Field reference at runtime. I'm assuming that you will recreate all FieldNode objects starting from FieldNode that has no parent.

Actually, i'm starting with the fields and going inward with for loops to save the data down to the nodes within the field. I guess this means that I would have to wait to assign each of the parent references within the nodes until all the fields have been recreated when I load my file back into the program. That way it won't try to put a field in for the parent property that hasn't been created yet.

Come to think of it though, all of the nodes that i'm saving within the fields will all have a field parent of the current field that i'm saving, so all I really have to do is keep track of that parent when i'm loading the file into the program and loop through the nodes assigning each one's parent field the value of the field that was just loaded into the program. I know this probably sounds a little confusing, but I think i've solved my own problem. Thanks guys, you've been a big help!