XML vs Easy Save 2 v Player Prefs

[OceanBlue]

Hi

I’m curious as to when it is best practice to use XML, and what is it primarily used for? I currently use Easy Save 2 for save game and secure info saving, and it works brilliantly. But I know very little about XML, the benefits and pitfalls of it. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks

[Brotherhood]

XML vs Easy Save 2 - Can’t really comment. I’m assuming Easy Save 2 uses a form of Binary serialization, but that’s pure speculation on my part. If that’s the case, google “XML vs Binary serialization” and look at the thousands of discussions on this topic and then decide which you prefer to use.

PlayerPrefs - If you’re developing for Windows, it’s a horrible way to save large amounts of data. To quote Microsoft on storing data in the Registry:

@http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724881(v=vs.85).aspx

Although there are few technical limits to the type and size of data an application can store in the registry, certain practical guidelines exist to promote system efficiency. An application should store configuration and initialization data in the registry, and store other kinds of data elsewhere.

Generally, data consisting of more than one or two kilobytes (K) should be stored as a file and referred to by using a key in the registry rather than being stored as a value. Instead of duplicating large pieces of data in the registry, an application should save the data as a file and refer to the file. Executable binary code should never be stored in the registry.

A value entry uses much less registry space than a key. To save space, an application should group similar data together as a structure and store the structure as a value rather than storing each of the structure members as a separate key. (Storing the data in binary form allows an application to store data in one value that would otherwise be made up of several incompatible types.)

[Toerktumlare]

using XML is also a discussion on its own. I prefer JSON others prefer XML

[Damien-Delmarle]

simple sql on the assets store, data encryption data structure, and its more easy to changes tables than xml or player prefs. and obviously sql query are more interesting for managing all kind of data