Serialize using jsonSerialize() if object implements JsonSerializable

[ramsey]

Q	A
Bug report?	no
Feature request?	yes
BC Break report?	no
RFC?	no

Serialize using jsonSerialize() if object implements JsonSerializable

I received an issue on ramsey/uuid-doctrine, where a user describes a situation where the Ramsey\Uuid\Uuid object is converted to a JSON object of its properties, rather than the expected string representation. See ramsey/uuid-doctrine#50.

In using ramsey/uuid-doctrine, they expected the serialized JSON for the database field to include the string UUID and nothing else. Since Uuid implements the JsonSerializable interface, I would also have this same expectation. However, jms/serializer doesn't appear to respect JsonSerializable, so it doesn't serialize the object according to its own rules. Instead, it seems to iterate over the properties of the object and creates a JSON object based on those.

I'm requesting that jms/serializable implement a feature that detects whether an object implements JsonSerializable, and if so, call json_encode() on the object instead.

Example

Here's an example showing how jms/serializer renders a Uuid object.

composer.json:

{
    "require": {
        "ramsey/uuid": "^3.7",
        "jms/serializer": "^1.9"
    }
}

serialize-uuid.php:

<?php
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

$uuid = \Ramsey\Uuid\Uuid::uuid4();
$serializer = JMS\Serializer\SerializerBuilder::create()->build();

echo "Using jms/serializer:\n\n";
echo $serializer->serialize($uuid, 'json');
echo "\n\n";

echo "Using json_encode():\n\n";
echo json_encode($uuid);
echo "\n\n";

Running this script, we see the following output:

$ php serialize-uuid.php
Using jms/serializer:

{"factory":{"codec":{"builder":{"converter":{}}},"node_provider":{"node_providers":[{},{}]},"number_converter":{},"random_generator":{},"time_generator":{"node_provider":{"node_providers":[{},{}]},"time_converter":{},"time_provider":{}},"uuid_builder":{"converter":{}}},"codec":{"builder":{"converter":{}}},"fields":{"time_low":"4abe89df","time_mid":"76e6","time_hi_and_version":"452a","clock_seq_hi_and_reserved":"97","clock_seq_low":"69","node":"c93997076b53"},"converter":{}}

Using json_encode():

"4abe89df-76e6-452a-9769-c93997076b53"

[goetas]

See here the a simple solution for the issue.

Regarding the feature request, the jms/serializer "json" serialization is not based on "json_encode" conventions so to me it seems logical to not use JsonSerializable.

The JMS serializer tries to guess the type of the object and visit its properties. When the @Type is specified the serializer does not need to guess the type and can use the serialization rules specified for it.

A Is also possible to specify @Type("JsonSerializable") and provide a custom handler for it.

(obviously all this works when talking about "serialization", "de-serialization" is a different problem)

[din-gi]

Hey,

Thanks for the response.

Here's some of my code:

use \JMS\Serializer\Annotation\Type;

class StoreMonitoredProducts
{
    /**
	 * @var \Ramsey\Uuid\Uuid
	 *
	 * @ORM\Id
	 * @Type("string")
	 * @ORM\Column(type="uuid", unique=true)
	 * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="CUSTOM")
	 * @ORM\CustomIdGenerator(class="Ramsey\Uuid\Doctrine\UuidGenerator")
     */
    private $storeMonitoredProductId;
}

This still gives me the following response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "storeMonitoredProductId": {
        "factory": {
          "codec": {
            "builder": {
              "converter": {}
            }
          },
          "nodeProvider": {
            "nodeProviders": [
              {},
              {}
            ]
          },
          "numberConverter": {},
          "randomGenerator": {},
          "timeGenerator": {
            "nodeProvider": {
              "nodeProviders": [
                {},
                {}
              ]
            },
            "timeConverter": {},
            "timeProvider": {}
          },
          "uuidBuilder": {
            "converter": {}
          }
        },
        "codec": {
          "builder": {
            "converter": {}
          }
        },
        "fields": {
          "time_low": "00532d60",
          "time_mid": "6a9c",
          "time_hi_and_version": "58b4",
          "clock_seq_hi_and_reserved": "c9",
          "clock_seq_low": "e7",
          "node": "c566472cfc4c"
        },
        "converter": {}
      }
    }
  ]
}

Also,
I would love good example on this serialization and de-serialization matters.
Thanks!

[goetas]

did you clear your cache?

[din-gi]

Hey, I didn't.. but after your request I did remove Symfony cache which is under var/cache (which includes the jms_serializer cache) and it is still the same response.

[goetas]

Weird, I'm using Ramsey\Uuid in half of my projects and @Type("string") worked always

[goetas]

Are you sure that metadata are loaded correctly? if you put @Type("somnethingThatDoesNotExists") what do you get?

[din-gi]

I got the same thing.. which means I might be missing something.. I will get back to this in the evening and try to look a bit more as I don't want to annoy you, because I probably lack some knowledge. Thanks.

I would be glad though if you can reference me to some links.

Thanks

[goetas]

it looks that your metadata are not loaded. which version of symfony are you using?

[din-gi]

3.3.13

[goetas]

you do not need to build "manually" the serializer instance, just use

public function generateGoodResponse($jsonResponse)
{
    $jsonContent = $this->serializer->serialize($jsonResponse, 'json');
    $response = new Response($jsonContent);
    $response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'application/json');

    return $response;
}

$this->serializer is the service that should be injected into your controller. Its name is jms_serializer.

if you use using autowiring just add a typehint \JMS\Serializer\SerializerInterface otherwise as said the service name is jms_serializer.

Closing as it is not a bug but a config issue