Added byte array serialization/deserialization for PersistentDataContainers

paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/persistence/PersistentDataContainer.java

@@ -184,4 +184,39 @@ public interface PersistentDataContainer {
      */
     @NotNull
     PersistentDataAdapterContext getAdapterContext();
+
+    // Paper start - byte array serialization
+    /**
+     * Serialize this {@link PersistentDataContainer} instance to a
+     * byte array.
+     *
+     * @return a binary representation of this container
+     * @throws java.io.IOException if we fail to write this container to a byte array
+     */
+    byte @NotNull [] serializeToBytes() throws java.io.IOException;
+
+    /**
+     * Read values from a serialised byte array into this
+     * {@link PersistentDataContainer} instance.
+     *
+     * @param bytes the byte array to read from
+     * @param clear if true, this {@link PersistentDataContainer} instance
+     *              will be cleared before reading
+     * @throws java.io.IOException if the byte array has an invalid format
+     */
+    void readFromBytes(byte @NotNull [] bytes, boolean clear) throws java.io.IOException;
+
+    /**
+     * Read values from a serialised byte array into this
+     * {@link PersistentDataContainer} instance.
+     * This method has the same effect as
+     * <code>PersistentDataContainer#readFromBytes(bytes, true)</code>
+     *
+     * @param bytes the byte array to read from
+     * @throws java.io.IOException if the byte array has an invalid format
+     */
+    default void readFromBytes(final byte @NotNull [] bytes) throws java.io.IOException {
+        this.readFromBytes(bytes, true);
+    }
+    // Paper end - byte array serialization
 }