geode-docs/developing/data_serialization/gemfire_pdx_serialization.html.md.erb

<% set_title(product_name, "PDX Serialization") %>

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<%=vars.product_name%>'s Portable Data eXchange (PDX) is a cross-language data format that can reduce the cost of distributing and serializing your objects. PDX stores data in named fields that you can access individually, to avoid the cost of deserializing the entire data object. PDX also allows you to mix versions of objects where you have added or removed fields.

-   **[<%=vars.product_name%> PDX Serialization Features](PDX_Serialization_Features.html)**

    <%=vars.product_name%> PDX serialization offers several advantages in terms of functionality.

-   **[High Level Steps for Using PDX Serialization](use_pdx_high_level_steps.html)**

    To use PDX serialization, you can configure and use <%=vars.product_name%>'s reflection-based autoserializer, or you can program the serialization of your objects by using the PDX interfaces and classes.

-   **[Using Automatic Reflection-Based PDX Serialization](auto_serialization.html)**

    You can configure your cache to automatically serialize and deserialize domain objects without having to add any extra code to them.

-   **[Serializing Your Domain Object with a PdxSerializer](use_pdx_serializer.html)**

    For a domain object that you cannot or do not want to modify, use the `PdxSerializer` class to serialize and deserialize the object's fields. You use one `PdxSerializer` implementation for the entire cache, programming it for all of the domain objects that you handle in this way.

-   **[Implementing PdxSerializable in Your Domain Object](use_pdx_serializable.html)**

    For a domain object with source that you can modify, implement the `PdxSerializable` interface in the object and use its methods to serialize and deserialize the object's fields.

-   **[Programming Your Application to Use PdxInstances](program_application_for_pdx.html)**

    A `PdxInstance` is a light-weight wrapper around PDX serialized bytes. It provides applications with run-time access to fields of a PDX serialized object.

-   **[Adding JSON Documents to the <%=vars.product_name%> Cache](jsonformatter_pdxinstances.html)**

    The `JSONFormatter` API allows you to put JSON formatted documents into regions and retrieve them later by storing the documents internally as PdxInstances.

-   **[Using PdxInstanceFactory to Create PdxInstances](using_PdxInstanceFactory.html)**

    You can use the `PdxInstanceFactory` interface to create a `PdxInstance` from raw data when the domain class is not available on the server.

-   **[Persisting PDX Metadata to Disk](persist_pdx_metadata_to_disk.html)**

    <%=vars.product_name%> allows you to persist PDX metadata to disk and specify the disk store to use.

-   **[Using PDX Objects as Region Entry Keys](using_pdx_region_entry_keys.html)**

    Using PDX objects as region entry keys is highly discouraged.