How are constructors called during serialization and deserialization?

Question

How are the constructors called during serialization and deserialization

1. When there is one class implementing serializable?
2. When there is parent/child

Answer 1

Example:

 public class ParentDeserializationTest {

    public static void main(String[] args){
        try {
            System.out.println("Creating...");
            Child c = new Child(1);
            ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
            ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(baos);
            c.field = 10;
            System.out.println("Serializing...");
            oos.writeObject(c);
            oos.flush();
            baos.flush();
            oos.close();
            baos.close();
            ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray());
            ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(bais);
            System.out.println("Deserializing...");
            Child c1 = (Child)ois.readObject();
            System.out.println("c1.i="+c1.getI());
            System.out.println("c1.field="+c1.getField());
        } catch (IOException ex){
            ex.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex){
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public static class Parent {
        protected int field;
        protected Parent(){
            field = 5;
            System.out.println("Parent::Constructor");
        }
        public int getField() {
            return field;
        }
    }

    public static class Child extends Parent implements Serializable{
        protected int i;
        public Child(int i){
            this.i = i;
            System.out.println("Child::Constructor");
        }
        public int getI() {
            return i;
        }
    }
}

Output:

Creating...
Parent::Constructor
Child::Constructor
Serializing...
Deserializing...
Parent::Constructor
c1.i=1
c1.field=5

So if you deserialized your object, its constructors doesn't called, but default constructor of its parent will be called. And don't forget: all your serializable object should have a standard constructor without parameters.