Methods, systems, and computer program products for programmatically
serializing complex objects (such as JavaBeans.TM.). In contrast to prior
art techniques, a manually-specified data type mapping specification is
not required as input to the serialization process. Instead, the present
invention programmatically generates this type mapping, responsive to
encountering run-time exceptions during the serialization process. The
serialization process is therefore "self-healing". This approach is
especially advantageous when serializing complex objects that may include
complex data types and/or embedded objects. The
programmatically-generated type mapping information is preferably used to
generate a serialized version of the complex object, and can also be used
during deserialization. In addition to improving serialization
techniques, this type mapping information facilitates dynamic integration
and transformation of data between heterogeneous formats.