[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays #28363

mcfedr · 2018-09-04T17:54:11Z

Allows Normalizers to return a representation of an empty object that the encoder recognizes as such.

Often PHP code is relaxed about the difference betweens arrays and objects, and particularly empty arrays are ambiguous. This preserves objects that would otherwise have turned into arrays as objects in the encoding.

Q	A
Branch?	master
Bug fix?	no
New feature?	yes
BC breaks?	No
Deprecations?	No
Tests pass?	yes
Fixed tickets	#23019
License	MIT
Doc PR	I'll do it if/when this might be merged

dunglas · 2018-09-05T05:30:26Z

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractObjectNormalizer.php

@@ -119,6 +120,10 @@ public function normalize($object, $format = null, array $context = array())
            $data = $this->updateData($data, $attribute, $this->serializer->normalize($attributeValue, $format, $this->createChildContext($context, $attribute)));
        }

+        if (!\count($data)) {
+            return new EmptyObject();


I fear that it's a BC break: code may rely on the old behavior and not except that this custom object is returned.
A solution may be to make this behavior optin through a context option.

I like the idea of using a context option to avoid the BC. I think its only an issue for custom Encoders - but it does seem like a bug fix, it was certainly unexpected behaviour for me when trying to get {} in my JSON.

dunglas · 2018-09-05T05:37:42Z

Why not following the suggestion made by @meyerbaptiste in #23019 and use an ArrayObject instead of the custom EmptyObject class?
Also, the NormalizerInterface must be updated to document that returning something else than an array may be returned.

mcfedr · 2018-09-05T08:46:42Z

Ok, At first I was thinking ArrayObject is supposed to be an object representation of an array, but actually I see this makes sense as its more an implementation of array features but for objects.

So I have basically extended encoders where needed to make sure they support encoding ArrayObject in general.

Also changed Normalizer to allow returning ArrayObject - currently used only for empty objects, so they stay as objects. They only do this behind the context flag array_object for BC.

I think this is now completely BC:

Encoders additionally support encoding ArrayObject
Normalizers only change output with array_object flag.

fabpot · 2018-10-10T10:16:08Z

@dunglas Can you review this one again? Thank you.

dunglas

Almost good on my side! Only small changes left.

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/CsvEncoder.php

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/YamlEncoder.php

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractObjectNormalizer.php

mcfedr · 2019-02-27T20:08:34Z

I've love to see it merged, ill have to look at rebasing it i guess as it has some conflicts now.

dbu

looks like an important feature to have when building rest apis that non-php clients should be able to consume.

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractObjectNormalizer.php

mcfedr · 2019-05-24T09:39:59Z

I've rebased this on master, and made changes suggested by @dbu, I think should be good now, @fabpot

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/CsvEncoder.php

fabpot

LGTM

src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/NormalizerInterface.php

fabpot · 2019-08-09T07:03:12Z

@mcfedr Can you take my comment into account and rebase on current 4.4? That's the last steps before merging IMO. Thank you.

Allows Normalizers to return a representation of an empty object that the encoder recognizes as such.

mcfedr · 2019-08-12T13:08:22Z

@fabpot All done!

fabpot · 2019-08-13T07:10:09Z

Thank you @mcfedr.

…ys (mcfedr) This PR was merged into the 4.4 branch. Discussion ---------- [Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays Allows Normalizers to return a representation of an empty object that the encoder recognizes as such. Often PHP code is relaxed about the difference betweens arrays and objects, and particularly empty arrays are ambiguous. This preserves objects that would otherwise have turned into arrays as objects in the encoding. | Q | A | ------------- | --- | Branch? | master | Bug fix? | no | New feature? | yes | BC breaks? | No | Deprecations? | No | Tests pass? | yes | Fixed tickets | #23019 | License | MIT | Doc PR | I'll do it if/when this might be merged Commits ------- f28e826 [Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays

mcfedr · 2019-09-26T06:47:36Z

@dunglas I'm thinking of making a PR to make this the default behaviour in Symfony 5, and deprecate Symfony for 4.4, do you think that would be a good change?

mcfedr requested a review from dunglas as a code owner September 4, 2018 17:54

carsonbot added Status: Needs Review Serializer Bug Feature Deprecation labels Sep 4, 2018

mcfedr force-pushed the serialize-empty-object branch 2 times, most recently from ffb4266 to 8bb0b30 Compare September 4, 2018 17:58

mcfedr requested a review from xabbuh as a code owner September 4, 2018 20:00

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mcfedr force-pushed the serialize-empty-object branch 2 times, most recently from 889fa6a to a4d808f Compare September 5, 2018 08:41

mcfedr force-pushed the serialize-empty-object branch 2 times, most recently from 7938c13 to bfb55b4 Compare September 5, 2018 15:18

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xabbuh reviewed Oct 19, 2018

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[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays

f28e826

Allows Normalizers to return a representation of an empty object that the encoder recognizes as such.

mcfedr force-pushed the serialize-empty-object branch from d458148 to f28e826 Compare August 12, 2019 13:06

mcfedr changed the base branch from master to 4.4 August 12, 2019 13:07

fabpot approved these changes Aug 13, 2019

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fabpot mentioned this pull request Aug 13, 2019

[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays symfony/symfony-docs#12148

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fabpot merged commit f28e826 into symfony:4.4 Aug 13, 2019

mcfedr deleted the serialize-empty-object branch August 13, 2019 07:29

teohhanhui mentioned this pull request Aug 18, 2019

Empty Object transform to empty array api-platform/api-platform#1223

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s1k3s mentioned this pull request Oct 6, 2019

Force the serializer to dump empty JSON object instead of array for empty arrays api-platform/api-platform#1280

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nicolas-grekas modified the milestones: next, 4.4 Oct 27, 2019

This was referenced Nov 12, 2019

Release v4.4.0-BETA1 #34338

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Release v5.0.0-BETA1 #34339

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soyuka mentioned this pull request Jun 1, 2020

Doctrine Collections should be an array #37041

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Foxprodev mentioned this pull request Jul 21, 2021

Add preserve_empty_objects support api-platform/core#4363

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[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays #28363

[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays #28363

mcfedr commented Sep 4, 2018 •

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[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays #28363

[Serializer] Encode empty objects as objects, not arrays #28363

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