Kotlin .decodeFromByteArray()

The .decodeFromByteArray() method is a part of the kotlinx.serialization library and is used to deserialize/decode (convert) a byte array into a Kotlin object. Commonly used when data in a byte array format is transmitted and needs to be reverted into a Kotlin object.

Syntax

fun <T> BinaryFormat.decodeFromByteArray(ByteArray)

• <T>: The type of the object to be deserialized
• BinaryFormat: An interface in kotlinx.serialization library that provides methods for serializing and deserializing Kotlin objects in binary formats. An example of BinaryFormat is ProtoBuf, it serializes and deserializes Kotlin objects.
• ByteArray: The byte array containing the binary representation of the serialized object.

Example

The following example demonstrates how to use .decodeFromByteArray:

import kotlinx.serialization.*

@Serializable
data class Person(val name: String, val age: Int)

fun main() {
  val person = Person("Alice", 25)
  val personToByteArray = ProtoBuf.encodeToByteArray(person)
  val deserializedPerson = ProtoBuf.decodeFromByteArray(personToByteArray)
  println("Original Person: $person")
  println("Deserialized Person: $deserializedPerson")
}

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The output of the example above is:

Original Person: Person(name=Alice, age=25)
Deserialized Person: Person(name=Alice, age=25)

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