Changed the code so that literal strings "i.e. stuff like this" are

serialized using the same format as std::string.  Previously, the
trailing 0 was also saved so if you deserialized them into a std::string
you ended up with a trailing 0 in the std::string which isn't what you
want.

dlib/serialize.h

@@ -1281,6 +1281,17 @@ namespace dlib
         }
     }
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    inline void serialize(const char* item, std::ostream& out)
+    {
+        // We serialize literal strings the same way we serialize std::string, that is, we
+        // write the data but no trailing 0 byte.
+        const unsigned long length = strlen(item);
+        serialize(length, out);
+        out.write(item, length);
+    }
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     class proxy_serialize 
@@ -1302,6 +1313,24 @@ namespace dlib
             return *this;
         }
 
+        template <size_t length>
+        proxy_serialize& operator<<(const char (&item)[length])
+        {
+            // We serialize char arrays like we do all other arrays.  That is, we write
+            // every element.
+            serialize(length, *fout);
+            fout->write(item, length);
+            return *this;
+        }
+
+        proxy_serialize& operator<<(const char* item)
+        {
+            // We serialize literal strings the same way we serialize std::string, that is,
+            // we write the data but no trailing 0 byte.
+            serialize(item, *fout);
+            return *this;
+        }
+
     private:
         shared_ptr<std::ofstream> fout;
     };

dlib/test/serialize.cpp

@@ -940,6 +940,58 @@ namespace
         }
     }
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    void test_strings()
+    {
+        string str1 = "stuff";
+        char buf[6];
+        buf[0] = 0;
+        buf[1] = 1;
+        buf[2] = 2;
+        buf[3] = 0;
+        buf[4] = 3;
+        buf[5] = 3;
+
+        dlib::serialize("ser_test_string.dat") << str1 << buf << "morestuff";
+
+        string str2, str3;
+        char buf2[6];
+        memset(buf2,0,sizeof(buf2));
+        dlib::deserialize("ser_test_string.dat") >> str2 >> buf2 >> str3;
+        DLIB_TEST(str2 == "stuff");
+        DLIB_TEST(str3 == "morestuff");
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[0] == 0);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[1] == 1);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[2] == 2);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[3] == 0);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[4] == 3);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[5] == 3);
+
+
+        ofstream fout("ser_test_string.dat", ios::binary);
+        dlib::serialize(str1, fout);
+        dlib::serialize(buf, fout);
+        dlib::serialize("morestuff", fout);
+        fout.close();
+        ifstream fin("ser_test_string.dat", ios::binary);
+        memset(buf2,0,sizeof(buf2));
+        str2.clear();
+        str3.clear();
+        dlib::deserialize(str2, fin);
+        dlib::deserialize(buf2, fin);
+        dlib::deserialize(str3, fin);
+
+        DLIB_TEST(str2 == "stuff");
+        DLIB_TEST(str3 == "morestuff");
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[0] == 0);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[1] == 1);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[2] == 2);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[3] == 0);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[4] == 3);
+        DLIB_TEST(buf2[5] == 3);
+    }
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     class serialize_tester : public tester
@@ -966,6 +1018,7 @@ namespace
             test_vector<int>();
             test_vector_bool();
             test_array2d_and_matrix_serialization();
+            test_strings();
         }
     } a;