private static byte[] serialize(Object o) throws IOException {
        ByteArrayOutputStream ba = new ByteArrayOutputStream(1000);
        ObjectOutputStream oba = new ObjectOutputStream(ba);
        oba.writeObject(o);
        return ba.toByteArray();
    }

    private static Object deserialize(byte[] b) throws IOException,
ClassNotFoundException {
        ByteArrayInputStream ba = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
        ObjectInputStream oba = new ObjectInputStream(ba);
        return oba.readObject();
    }

All objects need to be serializable for this to work though !

Arne