Will a list of superclass objects serialize the actual subclass type?

I have a list of custom objects which are declared as shown:

Code:java

private List<Effect> effects;

Effect does not implement ConfigurationSerializable for specific reasons, but it's derived subclasses do. If I want to serialize the object that the list of effects is inside, will it also serialize the list of effects using the derived subclass' serialize method? Here is how I want to serialize my list of effects:

Code:java

@Override
public Map<String, Object> serialize() {
Map<String, Object> results = new HashMap<String, Object>();
 
results.put("effects", effects);
return results;
}

And this is a subclass derived from Effect:

Code:java

public class SomeEffect extends Effect implements ConfigurationSerializable{
 
@Override
public Map<String, Object> serialize() {
Map<String, Object> results = new HashMap<String, Object>();
 
results.put("...", ...);
return results;
}
 
public SomeEffect deserialize(Map<String, Object> args){
try{
return new SomeEffect(...);
}catch (Exception ex){
throw new NullPointerException(ex.getLocalizedMessage());
}
}
}

Would I be able to do this, or would I need to change the data type declaration of effects to:

Code:java

private List<? extends Effect> effects;

Will the serialize method correctly serialize every type of Effect within List<Effect> and correctly deserialize this using (List<Effect>) args.get("effects") ?

bump

EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.

 

I'm not completely clear what you're asking. If I am correct, you want to serialize a list of Effects. Now I have a question for you. Do all of these effects implement ConfigurationSerializable? If so, I would make Effect abstract and make THAT implement ConfigurationSerializable. If, for some reason, you need a direct instance of Effect, have Effect implement ConfigurationSerializable and give it a default serialize() method, which the subclasses can override to make a better serialize.

Also, without Effect having a serialize method, serializing an Effect object without a cast will result in an error (Compile time probably).

EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.

 

If Effect does not implement Serializable/ConfigurationSerializable then no, it cannot be serialized and must be marked transient.

 

Sorry for the late reply.

Effect doesn't implement ConfigurationSerializable but its subclasses do.

 

It seems that Effect just implements "Serializable", so you could simply write it to another file via "ObjectOutputStream"