--SERIALIZATION FUNCTIONS

function serialize(var,compression)
	if(type(var) == 'table') then
		local output = ''
		for index,value in pairs(var) do
			if(not (value == var)) then
				output = output .. '<i i="' .. index .. '">' .. serialize(value) .. '</i>'
			end
		end
		
		if(compression) then
			return '<ct>' .. utils.base64encode(utils.compress(output,9)) .. '</ct>'
		else
			return '<t>' .. output .. '</t>'
		end
	elseif(type(var) == 'number') then
		return '<n>' .. var .. '</n>'
	elseif(type(var) == 'string') then
		return '<s>' .. var .. '</s>'
	elseif(type(var) == 'boolean') then
		return '<b>' .. (var and 't' or 'f') .. '</b>'
	end
	
	return ''
end
function unserialize(var)
	if(var == nil) then
		return nil
	end
	
	local root = utils.xmlread(var)	
	
	if(root) then
		return unserialize_xml(root.nodes[1])
	else
		return nil
	end
end
function unserialize_xml(node)
	if(node.name == 'n') then return tonumber(node.content) end
	if(node.name == 's') then return tostring(node.content) end
	if(node.name == 'b') then return (tostring(node.content) == 't') end
	
	if(node.name == 'ct') then
		node.name = 't'
		local root = utils.xmlread(utils.decompress(utils.base64decode(node.content)))
		
		if(root) then
			node.nodes = root.nodes
		else
			return {}
		end
	end
	
	if(node.name == 't') then
		local t = {}
	
		if(node.nodes) then
			for _,child in ipairs(node.nodes) do
				if(child.name == 'i') then
					t[child.attributes['i']] = unserialize_xml(child.nodes[1])
				end
			end
		end
		
		return t
	end
	
	return nil
end