lyng/docs/json_and_kotlin_serialization.md

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# Json support
Since 1.0.5 we start adding JSON support. Versions 1,0,6* support serialization of the basic types, including lists and maps, and simple classes. Multiple inheritance may produce incorrect results, it is work in progress.
## Serialization in Lyng
// in lyng
assertEquals("{\"a\":1}", {a: 1}.toJsonString())
void
>>> void
Simple classes serialization is supported:
import lyng.serialization
class Point(foo,bar) {
val t = 42
}
// val is not serialized
assertEquals( "{\"foo\":1,\"bar\":2}", Point(1,2).toJsonString() )
>>> void
Note that mutable members are serialized:
import lyng.serialization
class Point2(foo,bar) {
var reason = 42
// but we override json serialization:
fun toJsonObject() {
{ "custom": true }
}
}
// var is serialized instead
assertEquals( "{\"custom\":true}", Point2(1,2).toJsonString() )
>>> void
Custom serialization of user classes is possible by overriding `toJsonObject` method. It must return an object which is serializable to Json. Most often it is a map, but any object is accepted, that makes it very flexible:
import lyng.serialization
class Point2(foo,bar) {
var reason = 42
// but we override json serialization:
fun toJsonObject() {
{ "custom": true }
}
}
class Custom {
fun toJsonObject() {
"full freedom"
}
}
// var is serialized instead
assertEquals( "\"full freedom\"", Custom().toJsonString() )
>>> void
Please note that `toJsonString` should be used to get serialized string representation of the object. Don't call `toJsonObject` directly, it is not intended to be used outside the serialization library.
## Kotlin side interfaces
The "Batteries included" principle is also applied to serialization.
- `Obj.toJson()` provides Kotlin `JsonElement`
- `Obj.toJsonString()` provides Json string representation
- `Obj.decodeSerializableWith()` and `Obj.decodeSerializable()` allows to decode Lyng classes as Kotlin objects using `kotlinx.serialization`:
```kotlin
/**
* Decodes the current object into a deserialized form using the provided deserialization strategy.
* It is based on [Obj.toJson] and uses existing Kotlin Json serialization, without string representation
* (only `JsonElement` to carry information between Kotlin and Lyng serialization worlds), thus efficient.
*
* @param strategy The deserialization strategy that defines how the object should be decoded.
* @param scope An optional scope used during deserialization to define the context. Defaults to a new instance of Scope.
* @return The deserialized object of type T.
*/
suspend fun <T>Obj.decodeSerializableWith(strategy: DeserializationStrategy<T>, scope: Scope = Scope()): T =
Json.decodeFromJsonElement(strategy,toJson(scope))
/**
* Decodes a serializable object of type [T] using the provided decoding scope. The deserialization uses
* [Obj.toJson] and existing Json based serialization ithout using actual string representation, thus
* efficient.
*
* @param T The type of the object to be decoded. Must be a reified type.
* @param scope The scope used during decoding. Defaults to a new instance of [Scope].
*/
suspend inline fun <reified T>Obj.decodeSerializable(scope: Scope= Scope()) =
decodeSerializableWith<T>(serializer<T>(), scope)
```
Note that lyng-2-kotlin deserialization with `kotlinx.serialization` uses JsonElement as information carrier without formatting and parsing actual Json strings. This is why we use `Json.decodeFromJsonElement` instead of `Json.decodeFromString`. Such an approach gives satisfactory performance without writing and supporting custom `kotlinx.serialization` codecs.