Saving classes and objects to file (Java)
<p>tldr: I'm new to programs with persistent data and am looking for the right way to save/load files. Can anyone point me in the right direction?</p>

<p>I undertaking a project which involves much saving and loading of files between two related systems. Simplified, there is one program which functions as the 'builder' for developers and another which is the 'interface' for clients.</p>

<p>In the 'builder', developers have the functionality to define Items and their possible properties which clients may interact with in the interface. For example, the developer may make an Item called 'car' which may have colour, model, and speed properties; and also an item called 'house' which has dimensions, colour. He can make any number of items, which may be diverse and each will have a few common properties (name, colour) and also an array of different properties.</p>

<p>In the 'interface', clients may choose any number of items into their world. Ie, they may take 2 cars and 1 house, and separately define their properties such that one of the cars is a Fast Red Hotrod, another is a Slow White Van, and the house is Brown and 3x2.</p>

<p>both Car and House are instances of Item, but the client has further specified 2 different instances of Car.</p>

<p>Currently I have saving the different instances (car, house etc) into text files and this seems to be working well, but I'm sure there must be a better way (particularly as I intend the client interface to be runnable on Android). Can anyone point me in the right direction (s) or to some material which would help me make the choice?</p>
