Question

How are the constructors called during serialization and deserialization

1. When there is one class implementing serializable?
2. When there is parent/child relationship and only child implements serializable?
3. When there is parent/child relationship and both parent and child implements serializable?

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.