--- /dev/null
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\DataCollector;
+
+use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\DataCollector\Util\ValueExporter;
+
+/**
+ * DataCollector.
+ *
+ * Children of this class must store the collected data in the data property.
+ *
+ * @author Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ * @author Bernhard Schussek <bschussek@symfony.com>
+ */
+abstract class DataCollector implements DataCollectorInterface, \Serializable
+{
+ protected $data = array();
+
+ /**
+ * @var ValueExporter
+ */
+ private $valueExporter;
+
+ public function serialize()
+ {
+ return serialize($this->data);
+ }
+
+ public function unserialize($data)
+ {
+ $this->data = unserialize($data);
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Converts a PHP variable to a string.
+ *
+ * @param mixed $var A PHP variable
+ *
+ * @return string The string representation of the variable
+ */
+ protected function varToString($var)
+ {
+ if (null === $this->valueExporter) {
+ $this->valueExporter = new ValueExporter();
+ }
+
+ return $this->valueExporter->exportValue($var);
+ }
+}