Serialization of a List of object instances in Unity

This project provides the functionality of serializing a list of object instances inside of Unity.

Why

When working with reflection and editor scripting I sometimes want to serialize a list of values of arbitrary types.

If you want to serialize a list that contains int, float, Vector3, Color or other types that are usually serializable in Unity, you might want to create a List<object> to hold these values. However, Unity will not be able to serialize this list.

What the plugin does

The SerializationContainer class internally serializes a value as a string which can be later deserialized. It allows for serialization of any type Unity allows serialization for by default.

var serializedValue = SerializationContainer.From(100);
Debug.Log(serializedValue.StoredType);
// Value deserializes the stored value and returns it as object instance
Debug.Log(serializedValue.Value);
Debug.Log(serializedValue.Is<int>());

// You can also cast the value
int deserializedValue = serializedValue.GetValue<int>();

System.Int32
100
true

If you now need a list of arbitrary typed instances, you could just create a List<SerializationContainer>. The project also contains a SerializableList. It can be used like this:

public class SerializationExample : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private SerializableList _objects = new SerializableList(100, "foo", Color.red);

    public SerializableList Objects => _objects;
}

SerializableList implementes IEnumerable<SerializationContainer>. Values can be added using the constructor or the Add-Method, which also takes an object instance.

What it doesn't do

This project doesn't allow you to serialize any kind of object that Unity can not already serialize.

Installation

Download the Package.

Assets > Import Package > Custom Package ...

using ObjectSerialization;