diff -r 000000000000 -r 2e8eeb919028 configurationengine/source/cone/storage/persistentdictionary.py
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/configurationengine/source/cone/storage/persistentdictionary.py	Thu Mar 11 17:04:37 2010 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2009 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+# All rights reserved.
+# This component and the accompanying materials are made available
+# under the terms of "Eclipse Public License v1.0"
+# which accompanies this distribution, and is available
+# at the URL "http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html".
+#
+# Initial Contributors:
+# Nokia Corporation - initial contribution.
+#
+# Contributors:
+#
+# Description: 
+#
+
+from cone.public import persistence, exceptions, api, utils
+
+def dumps(obj):
+    return DictWriter().dumps(obj)
+
+def loads(dictstr):
+    # convert the dict string with eval to actual dict
+    return DictReader().loads(eval(dictstr))
+
+class DictWriter(persistence.ConeWriter):
+    """
+    """ 
+
+    def dumps(self, obj):
+        """
+        @param obj: The object 
+        """
+        writer = get_writer_for_class(obj.__class__.__name__)
+        return {obj.__class__.__name__: writer.dumps(obj)}
+
+
+class DictReader(persistence.ConeReader):
+    """
+    """ 
+    class_type = "Dict"
+
+    def loads(self, dict):
+        """
+        @param dict: The dictianary which to read. reads only the first object. 
+        """
+        classname = dict.keys()[0]
+        reader = get_reader_for_elem(classname)
+        return reader.loads(dict)
+
+
+class GenericWriter(DictWriter):
+    """
+    """ 
+
+    def dumps(self, obj):
+        """
+        @param obj: The Configuration object 
+        """
+        dict = {'dict': todict(obj)}
+        for child in obj._objects():
+            writer = get_writer_for_class(child.__class__.__name__)
+            chd = writer.dumps(child)
+            if not dict.has_key('children'):
+                 dict['children'] = []
+            dict['children'].append({child.__class__.__name__: chd})
+        return dict
+
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_class(cls, classname):
+        """
+        Class method to determine if this DictWriter supports writing
+        of the given class name
+        """
+        try:
+            cls = get_class(classname)
+            return True
+        except exceptions.IncorrectClassError:
+            return False
+
+
+class GenericReader(DictReader):
+    """
+    """ 
+    
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_elem(cls, elemname, parent=None):
+        """
+        Class method to determine if this DictWriter supports reading
+        of the given elem name
+        """
+        try:
+            cls = get_class(elemname)
+            return True
+        except exceptions.IncorrectClassError:
+            return False
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        pass
+
+    def loads(self, dict):
+        """
+        @param obj: The Configuration object 
+        """
+        
+        (classname,objdata) = dict.popitem()
+        obj = get_class(classname)()
+        objdict = objdata.get('dict',{})
+        for membername in objdict.keys():
+            try:
+                setattr(obj, membername, objdict[membername])
+            except AttributeError:
+                # read only attributes cannot be set
+                pass
+        obj._name = utils.resourceref.to_objref(obj.ref)
+
+        #container.ObjectContainer.__init__(obj,utils.resourceref.to_dottedref(obj.ref))
+        for child in objdata.get('children',[]):
+            classname = child.keys()[0]
+            reader = get_reader_for_elem(classname)
+            childobj = reader.loads(child)
+            obj.add(childobj)
+        return obj
+
+
+class ConfigurationProxyWriter(DictWriter):
+    """
+    """ 
+    def dumps(self, obj):
+        """
+        @param obj: The Configuration object 
+        """
+        dict = {'dict': todict(obj)}
+        return dict
+
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_class(cls, classname):
+        """
+        Class method to determine if this DictWriter supports writing
+        of the given class name
+        """
+        if classname=="ConfigurationProxy":
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
+
+
+class ConfigurationProxyReader(DictReader):
+    """
+    """ 
+    def loads(self, dict):
+        """
+        @param obj: The Configuration object 
+        """
+        (classname,objdata) = dict.popitem()
+        obj = api.ConfigurationProxy("")
+        obj.__dict__.update(objdata.get('dict',{}))
+        obj.set('_name',utils.resourceref.to_objref(obj.path))
+        return obj
+        
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_elem(cls, elemname, parent=None):
+        """
+        Class method to determine if this DictWriter supports reading
+        of the given elem name
+        """
+        if elemname=="ConfigurationProxy":
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
+
+
+def get_class(elemname):
+    """
+    Get a correct class from a element name.
+    """
+    if elemname=="Configuration":
+        return api.Configuration
+    elif elemname=="CompositeConfiguration":
+        return api.CompositeConfiguration
+    elif elemname=="Feature":
+        return api.Feature
+    elif elemname=="Data":
+        return api.Data
+    elif elemname=="DataContainer":
+        return api.DataContainer
+    elif elemname=="Base":
+        return api.Base
+    else:
+        raise exceptions.IncorrectClassError("Could not find a class for name %s!" % elemname)
+
+def get_reader_for_elem(classname):
+    for reader in DictReader.__subclasses__():
+        if reader.supported_elem(classname):
+            return reader()
+    raise exceptions.ConePersistenceError("No reader for given class found!")
+
+def get_writer_for_class(classname):
+    for writer in DictWriter.__subclasses__():
+        if writer.supported_class(classname):
+            return writer ()
+    raise exceptions.ConePersistenceError("No writer for given class found! %s" % classname)
+
+def todict(obj):
+    """
+    Helper function to push all non internal data to a dictionary
+    """
+    dict = {}
+    fromdict = obj._dict()
+    for member in fromdict:
+        if member.startswith("_"):
+            # skip internals
+            continue
+        value = getattr(obj,member)
+        if isinstance(value,str):
+            dict[member] = value
+            continue
+        if isinstance(value,int):
+            dict[member] = value
+            continue
+    return dict
+