PlainSerializer

The gem provides plain DSL to serialize objects of any kind.

It includes features such as:

Nested serialization
Pre-defined groups
Output modification
Self serialization

Output is Hash object which means you can convert it easily to anything you want.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'plain_serializer'

And then execute:

$ bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install plain_serializer

Usage

Imagine you have an object which has few simple attributes, something like the following:

user = OpenStruct.new(name: 'John Doe', age: 30)

You can define your serializer like:

class UserSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :name
  define_attribute :age 
end

When you need to serialize your object, you can do it as simple as this:

serializer = UserSerializer.setup(:name, :age)

# for single object
p serializer.serialize(user)
# => {:name=>"John Doe", :age=>30}

# for collection of objects
p serializer.serialize_collection([user])
# => [{:name=>"John Doe", :age=>30}]

Nested Serialization

user = OpenStruct.new(
  account: OpenStruct.new(name: 'USA'),
  properties: [
    OpenStruct.new(code: 'property1'),
    OpenStruct.new(code: 'property2')
  ]
)

class PropertySerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :code
end

class AccountSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :name
end

class UserSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_serializer :account, AccountSerializer
  define_collection_serializer :properties, PropertySerializer
end

serializer = UserSerializer.setup(account: :name, properties: :code)
p serializer.serialize(user) 
# => {:account=>{:name=>"USA"}, :properties=>[{:code=>"property1"}, {:code=>"property2"}]}

Pre-defined groups

user = OpenStruct.new(
  name: 'John Doe',
  age: '30',
  account: OpenStruct.new(name: 'USA')
)

class AccountSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :name
end

class UserSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :name
  define_attribute :age

  define_group :personal, [:age, account: :name]

  define_serializer :account, AccountSerializer
end

serializer = UserSerializer.setup(:name, :personal)
p serializer.serialize(user)
# => {:name=>"John Doe", :age=>"30", :account=>{:name=>"USA"}}

Output modification

user = OpenStruct.new(name: 'John Doe')

class UserSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_attribute :name
end

serializer = UserSerializer.setup(:name)

p(serializer.serialize(user) do |output|
  output[:anything] = 'anything_you_want_here'
end)
# => {:name=>"John Doe", :anything=>"anything_you_want_here"}

Self serialization

user = OpenStruct.new(
  birthday: DateTime.now
)

class DateTimeSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  def serialize(entity)
    entity.iso8601
  end
end

class UserSerializer < PlainSerializer::Base
  define_serializer :birthday, DateTimeSerializer
end

serializer = UserSerializer.setup(:birthday)
p serializer.serialize(user)
# => {:birthday=>"2020-05-17T11:46:40+02:00"}

p DateTimeSerializer.setup.serialize(DateTime.now)
# => "2020-05-17T11:46:40+02:00"

Development

After checking out the repo, run bundle install to install dependencies. Then, run rake spec to run the tests.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install.

To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/djezzzl/plain_serializer. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting in the PlainSerializer project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.