[gxml] * move Serialization into its own file

[Richard Hans Schwarting <rschwart src gnome org>]

commit 389109a6a6d59e8fa078967ab678ea87c64c281e
Author: Richard Schwarting <aquarichy gmail com>
Date:   Wed Jul 11 14:45:16 2012 -0400

    * move Serialization into its own file

 gxml/Serialization.vala   |  363 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 gxml/XmlSerializable.vala |  363 +--------------------------------------------
 2 files changed, 365 insertions(+), 361 deletions(-)
---
diff --git a/gxml/Serialization.vala b/gxml/Serialization.vala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..605edc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gxml/Serialization.vala
@@ -0,0 +1,363 @@
+using GXmlDom;
+
+[CCode (gir_namespace = "GXmlDom", gir_version = "0.2")]
+namespace GXmlDom {
+	public errordomain SerializationError {
+		UNKNOWN_TYPE,
+		UNKNOWN_PROPERTY,
+		UNSUPPORTED_TYPE
+	}
+
+	public class Serialization : GLib.Object {
+		private static void print_debug (GXmlDom.Document doc, GLib.Object object) {
+			stdout.printf ("Object XML\n---\n%s\n", doc.to_string ());
+
+			stdout.printf ("object\n---\n");
+			stdout.printf ("get_type (): %s\n", object.get_type ().name ());
+			stdout.printf ("get_class ().get_type (): %s\n", object.get_class ().get_type ().name ());
+
+			ParamSpec[] properties;
+			properties = object.get_class ().list_properties ();
+			stdout.printf ("object has %d properties\n", properties.length);
+			foreach (ParamSpec prop_spec in properties) {
+				stdout.printf ("---\n");
+				stdout.printf ("name: %s\n", prop_spec.name);
+				stdout.printf ("value_type: %s\n", prop_spec.value_type.name ());
+				stdout.printf ("owner_type: %s\n", prop_spec.owner_type.name ());
+				stdout.printf ("get_name (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_name ());
+				stdout.printf ("get_blurb (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_blurb ());
+				stdout.printf ("get_nick (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_nick ());
+			}
+		}
+
+		private static GXmlDom.XNode serialize_property (GLib.Object object, ParamSpec prop_spec, GXmlDom.Document doc) throws SerializationError, DomError {
+			Type type;
+			Value value;
+			XNode value_node;
+
+			type = prop_spec.value_type;
+
+			if (prop_spec.value_type.is_enum ()) {
+				/* We're going to handle this simply by saving it
+				   as an int.  If we save a string representation,
+				   we can't easily convert it back to the number
+				   in a generic fashion unless we can use GEnumClass,
+				   but I can't figure out how to get that right now,
+				   except from a GParamSpecEnum, but I don't know
+				   how to get that, at least in Vala (e.g. is it
+				   supposed to be as simple in C as casting the
+				   GParamSpec for an enum to GParamSpecEnum (assuming
+				   it truly is the latter, but is returned as the
+				   former by list_properties) */
+				value = Value (typeof (int));
+				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
+				value_node = doc.create_text_node ("%d".printf (value.get_int ()));
+				/* TODO: in the future, perhaps figure out GEnumClass
+				   and save it as the human readable enum value :D */
+			} else if (Value.type_transformable (prop_spec.value_type, typeof (string))) { // e.g. int, double, string, bool
+				value = Value (typeof (string));
+				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
+				//GLib.warning ("value: %d", value);
+				value_node = doc.create_text_node (value.get_string ());
+			} else if (type == typeof (GLib.Type)) {
+				value_node = doc.create_text_node (type.name ());
+				// } else if (type == typeof (GLib.HashTable)) {
+				// } else if (type == typeof (Gee.List)) { // TODO: can we do a catch all for Gee.Collection and have <Collection /> ?
+				// } else if (type.is_a (typeof (Gee.Collection))) {
+			} else if (type.is_a (typeof (GLib.Object))) {
+				// TODO: this is going to get complicated
+				value = Value (typeof (GLib.Object));
+				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
+				GLib.Object child_object = value.get_object ();
+				value_node = Serialization.serialize_object (child_object); // catch serialisation errors?
+				// TODO: caller will append_child; can we cross documents like this?  Probably not :D want to be able to steal?, attributes seem to get lost
+			} else {
+				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Can't currently serialize type '%s' for property '%s' of object '%s'", type.name (), prop_spec.name, object.get_type ().name ());
+			}
+
+			return value_node;
+		}
+
+		/* TODO: so it seems we can get property information from GObjectClass
+		   but that's about it.  Need to definitely use introspection for anything
+		   tastier */
+		public static GXmlDom.XNode serialize_object (GLib.Object object) throws SerializationError {
+			Document doc;
+			Element root;
+			ParamSpec[] prop_specs;
+			Element prop;
+			Serializable serializable = null;
+			XNode value_prop = null;
+
+			if (object.get_type ().is_a (typeof (Serializable))) {
+				serializable = (Serializable)object;
+			}
+
+			/* Create an XML Document to return the object
+			   in.  TODO: consider just returning an
+			   <Object> node; but then we'd probably want
+			   a separate document for it to already be a
+			   part of as its owner_document. */
+			try {
+				doc = new Document ();
+				root = doc.create_element ("Object");
+				doc.append_child (root);
+				root.set_attribute ("otype", object.get_type ().name ());
+
+				/* TODO: make sure we don't use an out param for our returned list
+				   size in our interface's list_properties (), using
+				   [CCode (array_length_type = "guint")] */
+				if (serializable != null) {
+					prop_specs = serializable.list_properties ();
+				} else {
+					prop_specs = object.get_class ().list_properties ();
+				}
+
+				/* Exam the properties of the object and store
+				   them with their name, type and value in XML
+				   Elements.  Use GValue to convert them to
+				   strings. (Too bad deserialising isn't that
+				   easy w.r.t. string conversion.) */
+				foreach (ParamSpec prop_spec in prop_specs) {
+					prop = doc.create_element ("Property");
+					prop.set_attribute ("ptype", prop_spec.value_type.name ());
+					prop.set_attribute ("pname", prop_spec.name);
+
+					value_prop = null;
+					if (serializable != null) {
+						value_prop = serializable.serialize_property (prop_spec.name, prop_spec, doc);
+					}
+					if (value_prop == null) {
+						value_prop = Serialization.serialize_property (object, prop_spec, doc);
+					}
+
+					prop.append_child (value_prop);
+					root.append_child (prop);
+				}
+			} catch (GXmlDom.DomError e) {
+				GLib.error ("%s", e.message);
+				// TODO: handle this better
+			}
+
+			/* Debug output */
+			bool debug = false;
+			if (debug) {
+				Serialization.print_debug (doc, object);
+			}
+
+			return doc.document_element; // user can get Document through .owner_document
+		}
+
+		private static void deserialize_property (ParamSpec spec, Element prop_elem, out Value val) throws SerializationError {
+			Type type;
+
+			type = spec.value_type;
+
+			// if (false || ptype != "") {
+			// 	// TODO: undisable if we support fields at some point
+			// 	type = Type.from_name (ptype);
+			// 	if (type == 0) {
+			// 		/* This probably shouldn't happen while we're using
+			// 		   ParamSpecs but if we support non-property fields
+			// 		   later, it might be necessary again :D */
+			// 		throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_TYPE ("Deserializing object '%s' has property '%s' with unknown type '%s'", otype, pname, ptype);
+			// 	}
+			// }
+
+			// Get value and save this all as a parameter
+			bool transformed = false;
+			val = Value (type);
+			if (GLib.Value.type_transformable (type, typeof (string))) {
+				try {
+					string_to_gvalue (prop_elem.content, ref val);
+					transformed = true;
+				} catch (SerializationError e) {
+					throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("string_to_gvalue should transform it but failed");
+				}
+			// } else if (type.is_a (typeof (Gee.Collection))) {
+			} else if (type.is_a (typeof (GLib.Object))) {
+				GXmlDom.XNode prop_elem_child;
+				Object property_object;
+
+				try {
+					prop_elem_child = prop_elem.first_child;
+					property_object = Serialization.deserialize_object (prop_elem_child);
+					val.set_object (property_object);
+					transformed = true;
+				} catch (GXmlDom.SerializationError e) {
+					// We don't want this one caught by deserialize_object, or we'd have a cascading error message.  Hmm, not so bad if it does, though.
+					e.message += "\nXML [%s]".printf (prop_elem.to_string ());
+					throw e;
+				}
+			}
+
+			if (transformed == false) {
+				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Failed to transform property from string to type.");
+			}
+		}
+
+		public static GLib.Object deserialize_object (XNode node) throws SerializationError {
+			Element obj_elem;
+
+			string otype;
+			Type type;
+			Object obj;
+			unowned ObjectClass obj_class;
+			ParamSpec[] specs;
+			bool property_found;
+			Serializable serializable = null;
+
+			obj_elem = (Element)node;
+
+			// Get the object's type
+			// TODO: wish there was a g_object_class_from_name () method
+			otype = obj_elem.get_attribute ("otype");
+			type = Type.from_name (otype);
+			if (type == 0) {
+				throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_TYPE ("Deserializing object claims unknown type '%s'", otype);
+			}
+
+			// Get the list of properties as ParamSpecs
+			obj = Object.newv (type, new Parameter[] {}); // TODO: causes problems with Enums when 0 isn't a valid enum value (e.g. starts from 2 or something)
+			obj_class = obj.get_class ();
+
+			if (type.is_a (typeof (Serializable))) {
+				serializable = (Serializable)obj;
+			}
+
+			if (serializable != null) {
+				specs = serializable.list_properties ();
+			} else {
+				specs = obj_class.list_properties ();
+			}
+
+			foreach (XNode child_node in obj_elem.child_nodes) {
+				if (child_node.node_name == "Property") {
+					Element prop_elem;
+					string pname;
+					Value val;
+					//string ptype;
+
+					prop_elem = (Element)child_node;
+					pname = prop_elem.get_attribute ("pname");
+					//ptype = prop_elem.get_attribute ("ptype"); // optional
+
+					// Check name and type for property
+					ParamSpec? spec = null;
+					if (serializable != null) {
+						spec = serializable.find_property (pname);
+					} else {
+						spec = obj_class.find_property (pname);
+					}
+
+					if (spec == null) {
+						throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_PROPERTY ("Deserializing object of type '%s' claimed unknown property named '%s'\nXML [%s]", otype, pname, obj_elem.to_string ());
+					}
+
+					try {
+						bool serialized = false;
+
+						if (serializable != null) {
+							serialized = serializable.deserialize_property (spec.name, /* out val, */ spec, prop_elem); // TODO: consider rearranging these or the ones in Serializer to match
+						}
+						if (!serialized) {
+							Serialization.deserialize_property (spec, prop_elem, out val);
+							obj.set_property (pname, val);
+							// TODO: should we make a note that for implementing {get,set}_property in the interface, they should specify override (in Vala)?  What about in C?  Need to test which one gets called in which situations (yeah, already read the tutorial)
+						}
+					} catch (SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE e) {
+						throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Cannot deserialize object '%s's property '%s' with type '%s/%s': %s\nXML [%s]",
+											       otype, spec.name, spec.value_type.name (), spec.value_type.to_string (), e.message, obj_elem.to_string ());
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			return obj;
+		}
+
+		/* TODO:
+		 * - can't seem to pass delegates on struct methods to another function :(
+		 * - no easy string_to_gvalue method in GValue :(
+		 */
+		public static bool string_to_gvalue (string str, ref GLib.Value dest) throws SerializationError {
+			Type t = dest.type ();
+			GLib.Value dest2 = Value (t);
+			bool ret = false;
+
+			if (t == typeof (int64)) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_int64 (val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (int)) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_int ((int)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (long)) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_long ((long)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (uint)) {
+				uint64 val;
+				if (ret = uint64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_uint ((uint)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (ulong)) {
+				uint64 val;
+				if (ret = uint64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_ulong ((ulong)val);
+				}
+			} else if ((int)t == 20) { // gboolean
+				bool val = (str == "TRUE");
+				dest2.set_boolean (val); // TODO: huh, investigate why the type is gboolean and not bool coming out but is going in
+				ret = true;
+			} else if (t == typeof (bool)) {
+				bool val;
+				if (ret = bool.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_boolean (val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (float)) {
+				double val;
+				if (ret = double.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_float ((float)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (double)) {
+				double val;
+				if (ret = double.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_double (val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (string)) {
+				dest2.set_string (str);
+				ret = true;
+			} else if (t == typeof (char)) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_char ((char)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == typeof (uchar)) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_uchar ((uchar)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t == Type.BOXED) {
+			} else if (t.is_enum ()) {
+				int64 val;
+				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
+					dest2.set_enum ((int)val);
+				}
+			} else if (t.is_flags ()) {
+			} else if (t.is_object ()) {
+			} else {
+			}
+
+			if (ret == true) {
+				dest = dest2;
+				return true;
+			} else {
+				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("%s/%s", t.name (), t.to_string ());
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}	
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/gxml/XmlSerializable.vala b/gxml/XmlSerializable.vala
index cbe8c66..10bba89 100644
--- a/gxml/XmlSerializable.vala
+++ b/gxml/XmlSerializable.vala
@@ -30,378 +30,19 @@ using GXmlDom;
 
 [CCode (gir_namespace = "GXmlDom", gir_version = "0.2")]
 namespace GXmlDom {
-	public errordomain SerializationError {
-		UNKNOWN_TYPE,
-		UNKNOWN_PROPERTY,
-		UNSUPPORTED_TYPE
-	}
-
-	public class Serialization : GLib.Object {
-		private static void print_debug (GXmlDom.Document doc, GLib.Object object) {
-			stdout.printf ("Object XML\n---\n%s\n", doc.to_string ());
-
-			stdout.printf ("object\n---\n");
-			stdout.printf ("get_type (): %s\n", object.get_type ().name ());
-			stdout.printf ("get_class ().get_type (): %s\n", object.get_class ().get_type ().name ());
-
-			ParamSpec[] properties;
-			properties = object.get_class ().list_properties ();
-			stdout.printf ("object has %d properties\n", properties.length);
-			foreach (ParamSpec prop_spec in properties) {
-				stdout.printf ("---\n");
-				stdout.printf ("name: %s\n", prop_spec.name);
-				stdout.printf ("value_type: %s\n", prop_spec.value_type.name ());
-				stdout.printf ("owner_type: %s\n", prop_spec.owner_type.name ());
-				stdout.printf ("get_name (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_name ());
-				stdout.printf ("get_blurb (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_blurb ());
-				stdout.printf ("get_nick (): %s\n", prop_spec.get_nick ());
-			}
-		}
-
-		private static GXmlDom.XNode serialize_property (GLib.Object object, ParamSpec prop_spec, GXmlDom.Document doc) throws SerializationError, DomError {
-			Type type;
-			Value value;
-			XNode value_node;
-
-			type = prop_spec.value_type;
-
-			if (prop_spec.value_type.is_enum ()) {
-				/* We're going to handle this simply by saving it
-				   as an int.  If we save a string representation,
-				   we can't easily convert it back to the number
-				   in a generic fashion unless we can use GEnumClass,
-				   but I can't figure out how to get that right now,
-				   except from a GParamSpecEnum, but I don't know
-				   how to get that, at least in Vala (e.g. is it
-				   supposed to be as simple in C as casting the
-				   GParamSpec for an enum to GParamSpecEnum (assuming
-				   it truly is the latter, but is returned as the
-				   former by list_properties) */
-				value = Value (typeof (int));
-				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
-				value_node = doc.create_text_node ("%d".printf (value.get_int ()));
-				/* TODO: in the future, perhaps figure out GEnumClass
-				   and save it as the human readable enum value :D */
-			} else if (Value.type_transformable (prop_spec.value_type, typeof (string))) { // e.g. int, double, string, bool
-				value = Value (typeof (string));
-				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
-				//GLib.warning ("value: %d", value);
-				value_node = doc.create_text_node (value.get_string ());
-			} else if (type == typeof (GLib.Type)) {
-				value_node = doc.create_text_node (type.name ());
-				// } else if (type == typeof (GLib.HashTable)) {
-				// } else if (type == typeof (Gee.List)) { // TODO: can we do a catch all for Gee.Collection and have <Collection /> ?
-				// } else if (type.is_a (typeof (Gee.Collection))) {
-			} else if (type.is_a (typeof (GLib.Object))) {
-				// TODO: this is going to get complicated
-				value = Value (typeof (GLib.Object));
-				object.get_property (prop_spec.name, ref value);
-				GLib.Object child_object = value.get_object ();
-				value_node = Serialization.serialize_object (child_object); // catch serialisation errors?
-				// TODO: caller will append_child; can we cross documents like this?  Probably not :D want to be able to steal?, attributes seem to get lost
-			} else {
-				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Can't currently serialize type '%s' for property '%s' of object '%s'", type.name (), prop_spec.name, object.get_type ().name ());
-			}
-
-			return value_node;
-		}
-
-		/* TODO: so it seems we can get property information from GObjectClass
-		   but that's about it.  Need to definitely use introspection for anything
-		   tastier */
-		public static GXmlDom.XNode serialize_object (GLib.Object object) throws SerializationError {
-			Document doc;
-			Element root;
-			ParamSpec[] prop_specs;
-			Element prop;
-			Serializable serializable = null;
-			XNode value_prop = null;
-
-			if (object.get_type ().is_a (typeof (Serializable))) {
-				serializable = (Serializable)object;
-			}
-
-			/* Create an XML Document to return the object
-			   in.  TODO: consider just returning an
-			   <Object> node; but then we'd probably want
-			   a separate document for it to already be a
-			   part of as its owner_document. */
-			try {
-				doc = new Document ();
-				root = doc.create_element ("Object");
-				doc.append_child (root);
-				root.set_attribute ("otype", object.get_type ().name ());
-
-				/* TODO: make sure we don't use an out param for our returned list
-				   size in our interface's list_properties (), using
-				   [CCode (array_length_type = "guint")] */
-				if (serializable != null) {
-					prop_specs = serializable.list_properties ();
-				} else {
-					prop_specs = object.get_class ().list_properties ();
-				}
-
-				/* Exam the properties of the object and store
-				   them with their name, type and value in XML
-				   Elements.  Use GValue to convert them to
-				   strings. (Too bad deserialising isn't that
-				   easy w.r.t. string conversion.) */
-				foreach (ParamSpec prop_spec in prop_specs) {
-					prop = doc.create_element ("Property");
-					prop.set_attribute ("ptype", prop_spec.value_type.name ());
-					prop.set_attribute ("pname", prop_spec.name);
-
-					value_prop = null;
-					if (serializable != null) {
-						value_prop = serializable.serialize_property (prop_spec.name, prop_spec, doc);
-					}
-					if (value_prop == null) {
-						value_prop = Serialization.serialize_property (object, prop_spec, doc);
-					}
-
-					prop.append_child (value_prop);
-					root.append_child (prop);
-				}
-			} catch (GXmlDom.DomError e) {
-				GLib.error ("%s", e.message);
-				// TODO: handle this better
-			}
-
-			/* Debug output */
-			bool debug = false;
-			if (debug) {
-				Serialization.print_debug (doc, object);
-			}
-
-			return doc.document_element; // user can get Document through .owner_document
-		}
-
-		private static void deserialize_property (ParamSpec spec, Element prop_elem, out Value val) throws SerializationError {
-			Type type;
-
-			type = spec.value_type;
-
-			// if (false || ptype != "") {
-			// 	// TODO: undisable if we support fields at some point
-			// 	type = Type.from_name (ptype);
-			// 	if (type == 0) {
-			// 		/* This probably shouldn't happen while we're using
-			// 		   ParamSpecs but if we support non-property fields
-			// 		   later, it might be necessary again :D */
-			// 		throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_TYPE ("Deserializing object '%s' has property '%s' with unknown type '%s'", otype, pname, ptype);
-			// 	}
-			// }
-
-			// Get value and save this all as a parameter
-			bool transformed = false;
-			val = Value (type);
-			if (GLib.Value.type_transformable (type, typeof (string))) {
-				try {
-					string_to_gvalue (prop_elem.content, ref val);
-					transformed = true;
-				} catch (SerializationError e) {
-					throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("string_to_gvalue should transform it but failed");
-				}
-			// } else if (type.is_a (typeof (Gee.Collection))) {
-			} else if (type.is_a (typeof (GLib.Object))) {
-				GXmlDom.XNode prop_elem_child;
-				Object property_object;
-
-				try {
-					prop_elem_child = prop_elem.first_child;
-					property_object = Serialization.deserialize_object (prop_elem_child);
-					val.set_object (property_object);
-					transformed = true;
-				} catch (GXmlDom.SerializationError e) {
-					// We don't want this one caught by deserialize_object, or we'd have a cascading error message.  Hmm, not so bad if it does, though.
-					e.message += "\nXML [%s]".printf (prop_elem.to_string ());
-					throw e;
-				}
-			}
-
-			if (transformed == false) {
-				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Failed to transform property from string to type.");
-			}
-		}
-
-		public static GLib.Object deserialize_object (XNode node) throws SerializationError {
-			Element obj_elem;
-
-			string otype;
-			Type type;
-			Object obj;
-			unowned ObjectClass obj_class;
-			ParamSpec[] specs;
-			bool property_found;
-			Serializable serializable = null;
-
-			obj_elem = (Element)node;
-
-			// Get the object's type
-			// TODO: wish there was a g_object_class_from_name () method
-			otype = obj_elem.get_attribute ("otype");
-			type = Type.from_name (otype);
-			if (type == 0) {
-				throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_TYPE ("Deserializing object claims unknown type '%s'", otype);
-			}
-
-			// Get the list of properties as ParamSpecs
-			obj = Object.newv (type, new Parameter[] {}); // TODO: causes problems with Enums when 0 isn't a valid enum value (e.g. starts from 2 or something)
-			obj_class = obj.get_class ();
-
-			if (type.is_a (typeof (Serializable))) {
-				serializable = (Serializable)obj;
-			}
-
-			if (serializable != null) {
-				specs = serializable.list_properties ();
-			} else {
-				specs = obj_class.list_properties ();
-			}
-
-			foreach (XNode child_node in obj_elem.child_nodes) {
-				if (child_node.node_name == "Property") {
-					Element prop_elem;
-					string pname;
-					Value val;
-					//string ptype;
-
-					prop_elem = (Element)child_node;
-					pname = prop_elem.get_attribute ("pname");
-					//ptype = prop_elem.get_attribute ("ptype"); // optional
-
-					// Check name and type for property
-					ParamSpec? spec = null;
-					if (serializable != null) {
-						spec = serializable.find_property (pname);
-					} else {
-						spec = obj_class.find_property (pname);
-					}
-
-					if (spec == null) {
-						throw new SerializationError.UNKNOWN_PROPERTY ("Deserializing object of type '%s' claimed unknown property named '%s'\nXML [%s]", otype, pname, obj_elem.to_string ());
-					}
-
-					try {
-						bool serialized = false;
-
-						if (serializable != null) {
-							serialized = serializable.deserialize_property (spec.name, /* out val, */ spec, prop_elem); // TODO: consider rearranging these or the ones in Serializer to match
-						}
-						if (!serialized) {
-							Serialization.deserialize_property (spec, prop_elem, out val);
-							obj.set_property (pname, val);
-							// TODO: should we make a note that for implementing {get,set}_property in the interface, they should specify override (in Vala)?  What about in C?  Need to test which one gets called in which situations (yeah, already read the tutorial)
-						}
-					} catch (SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE e) {
-						throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("Cannot deserialize object '%s's property '%s' with type '%s/%s': %s\nXML [%s]",
-											       otype, spec.name, spec.value_type.name (), spec.value_type.to_string (), e.message, obj_elem.to_string ());
-					}
-				}
-			}
-
-			return obj;
-		}
-
-		/* TODO:
-		 * - can't seem to pass delegates on struct methods to another function :(
-		 * - no easy string_to_gvalue method in GValue :(
-		 */
-		public static bool string_to_gvalue (string str, ref GLib.Value dest) throws SerializationError {
-			Type t = dest.type ();
-			GLib.Value dest2 = Value (t);
-			bool ret = false;
-
-			if (t == typeof (int64)) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_int64 (val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (int)) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_int ((int)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (long)) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_long ((long)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (uint)) {
-				uint64 val;
-				if (ret = uint64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_uint ((uint)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (ulong)) {
-				uint64 val;
-				if (ret = uint64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_ulong ((ulong)val);
-				}
-			} else if ((int)t == 20) { // gboolean
-				bool val = (str == "TRUE");
-				dest2.set_boolean (val); // TODO: huh, investigate why the type is gboolean and not bool coming out but is going in
-				ret = true;
-			} else if (t == typeof (bool)) {
-				bool val;
-				if (ret = bool.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_boolean (val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (float)) {
-				double val;
-				if (ret = double.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_float ((float)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (double)) {
-				double val;
-				if (ret = double.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_double (val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (string)) {
-				dest2.set_string (str);
-				ret = true;
-			} else if (t == typeof (char)) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_char ((char)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == typeof (uchar)) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_uchar ((uchar)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t == Type.BOXED) {
-			} else if (t.is_enum ()) {
-				int64 val;
-				if (ret = int64.try_parse (str, out val)) {
-					dest2.set_enum ((int)val);
-				}
-			} else if (t.is_flags ()) {
-			} else if (t.is_object ()) {
-			} else {
-			}
-
-			if (ret == true) {
-				dest = dest2;
-				return true;
-			} else {
-				throw new SerializationError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE ("%s/%s", t.name (), t.to_string ());
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
 	public interface Serializable : GLib.Object {
 		/** Return true if your implementation will have handled the given property,
 		    and false elsewise (in which case, XmlSerializable will try to deserialize
 		    it).  */
 		/** OBSOLETENOTE: Return the deserialized value in GLib.Value (even if it's a GLib.Boxed type) because Serializer is going to set the property after calling this, and if you just set it yourself within, it will be overwritten */
-		public virtual bool deserialize_property (string property_name, /* out GLib.Value value, */ GLib.ParamSpec spec, GXmlDom.XNode property_node) {
+		public virtual bool deserialize_property (string property_name, /* out GLib.Value value,*/ GLib.ParamSpec spec, GXmlDom.XNode property_node) {
 			return false; // default deserialize_property gets used
 		}
 		// TODO: just added ? to these, do we really want to allow nulls for them?
 		// TODO: value and property_name are kind of redundant: eliminate?  property_name from spec.property_name and value from the object itself :)
 		/** Serialized properties should have the XML structure <Property pname="PropertyName">...</Property> */
 		// TODO: perhaps we should provide that base structure
-		public virtual GXmlDom.XNode? serialize_property (string property_name, /*GLib.Value value,*/ GLib.ParamSpec spec, GXmlDom.Document doc) {
+		public virtual GXmlDom.XNode? serialize_property (string property_name, /*GLib.Value value, */ GLib.ParamSpec spec, GXmlDom.Document doc) {
 			return null; // default serialize_property gets used
 		}