Thoughts on serialising a generic type

Hi all, I'm writing an editor script where a user can create their own classes and then instantiate and edit objects in a GUI. A feature of this is that it will support generic classes. Of course, there becomes the problem of serialising these classes - I've already tried inheriting from ScriptableObject, but that doesn't work correctly.

Here is an example snippet of code I would like to serialise:

Code (CSharp):

1. public class Example<T, U> : Base
2. {
3.     public T a;
4.     public string b;
5.     public U c;
6. }

'Base' is serialisable (using ISerializationCallbackReceiver) checks will occur on instantiation to make sure T and U are as well. Only serialisable values can be used within one of these generic classes.

Now, I'm trying to think of an elegant way to serialise these values. I would ideally like them to be serialised 'in place' - by this I mean that the object is not destroyed and then recreated. However, as they are all stored inside a List<Base> I am aware that they may all get serialised as Base, which means I may have to serialise them in an external class somehow.

Any pointers on how I may overcome this problem are highly appreciated, thank you for reading.

 

where I am not sure of a solution that uses ISerializationCallbackReceiver, Usually when you want to serialise a generic you have to inherit from it, defining the generic types i.e.

Code (CSharp):

1. public class FloatIntExample : Example<float, int>
2. {
3. }
4.  
5. public FloatIntExample myvar;
6.  

Although this solution can lead to annoying code patterns.If there is a solution using ISerializationCallbackReceiver I am interested to hear it!

 

Yes, I've seen people use that pattern before - I actually can't have users of this extension use that pattern because the extra level of inheritance complicates how the GUI will work, thank you anyway

(EDIT: Also I cannot use this as in your example, float and int are both concrete, while the extension is intended for the user to choose any combination of types)