DefinitionSerialization

Remarks

Every other artefact in the engine is read back through a known type. Serializer.Read<BehaviorTreeContent> works because the caller knows what it asked for. A definition catalog does not: it reads a directory of .vxdef files whose only statement of type is the !ItemDefinition a designer wrote, and the whole point of the seam is that a game can add a definition type without the loader learning about it.

So the payload leads with the [DataContract] alias, and the reader resolves that through SerializerRegistry — the same alias table Vixen.Core.Serialization's own dynamic paths use for a member of a base type. What this adds is that a whole artefact can be one, which Serializer.ToBytes<T> cannot do for an abstract T.

⚠ The alias is content, so renaming one is a content break. Same rule as renaming an address, and [DataContract]'s former-alias list is the migration path — which is also what ADR-005 specifies for a .meta.

Methods (3)

• public static byte[] ToBytes(Definition definition)

  Writes a definition, whatever kind it is.

• public static Definition FromBytes(ReadOnlySpan<byte> bytes)

  Reads a definition back.

• public static DefinitionCatalogBuilder Add(this DefinitionCatalogBuilder builder, string address, ReadOnlySpan<byte> bytes)

  Adds a definition to a catalog straight from its bytes.

Used by (8)

• AuthoredContentMmo.Content.Tests
• MmoLibrariesMmo.Shared
• RealmTestsMmo.Realm.Tests
• DefinitionImporterVixen.Editor.Assets
• DefinitionImporterTestsVixen.Editor.Assets.Tests
• DefinitionContentVixen.Gameplay.Content
• DefinitionSerializationTestsVixen.Gameplay.Tests
• ShippedVixen.Gameplay.Content.Tests