Encoding and Decoding

You can use the global variable dogs to easily access any dogs related functionality. All default encoders, decoders and opmodes expose extension methods on the DogEngine class in the schema of to{Format}<T> and to{Format}<T>.

Common Method Signature

<T> The return type parameter, which by default is used to lookup the converter.
kind: Serialize lists and sets without specifying a type tree.
type: Specify a type other than the return type parameter to be used for serialization.
tree: Use a tree base converter resolution. Refer to Tree Converters for more information.

If the type is overridden by type or tree, the type parameter will only be be used for casting.

JSON Serialization

Encoding

SingleListMapRuntime TypeNullable

Json Encode

var person = Person("Alex", 22, {"developer", "dart"});
var json = dogs.toJson<Person>(person);

Encode List

var persons = [Person(...), Person(...)];
var json = dogs.toJson(persons,
    type: Person,
    kind: IterableKind.list
);

Encode Map

var personMap = {"a": Person(...)};
var json = dogs.toJson(personMap,
    tree: QualifiedTypeTree.map<String,Person>()
);

This is a general example for TypeTrees

This can also be used for custom collections, wrappers, etc.
For more information, refer to Tree Converters and Structures.

Json Encode Dynamic Type

var person = Person("Alex", 22, {"developer", "dart"});
var json = dogs.toJson(person,
    type: PersonSupertype
);

Json Encode Nullable

var json = dogs.toJson<Person?>(null,
    type: Person,
);

Syntax

To support nullable types without Optional wrappers, you need to explicitly specify a nullable type parameter. Since most of the time no converter is bound to the nullable type, you also need to specify the type explicitly using the named 'type' parameter. You can also use a tree to resolve the type.

Decoding

SingleListMapRuntime TypeNullable

Json Decode

var json = """{"name":"Alex","age":22,"tags":["developer","dart"]}""";
var person = dogs.fromJson<Person>(json);

Type Parameter required!

Even when the type is inferred, you should always specify the type to avoid unexpected behavior.

Json Decode List

var json = """[{"name":"Alex","age":22,"tags":["developer","dart"]}]""";
var persons = dogs.fromJson<List>(json,
    type: Person,
    kind: IterableKind.list
).cast<Person>();

Type Parameter not required!

In this case, the type parameter is not required, as type tree already dictates the type.
It is just specified here so you don't have to cast the resulting type.

Json Decode Map

var json = """{"a":{"name":"Alex","age":22,"tags":["developer","dart"]}}""";
var map = dogs.fromJson<Map<String,Person>>(json,
    tree: QualifiedTypeTree.map<String,Person>()
);

Type Parameter not required!

In this case, the type parameter is not required, as type tree already dictates the type.
It is just specified here so you don't have to cast the resulting type.

Json Decode Dynamic Type

var json = """{"name":"Alex","age":22,"tags":["developer","dart"]}""";
var person = dogs.fromJson(json,
    type: PersonSupertype
);

Type Parameter not required!

In this case, the type parameter is not required, as type tree already dictates the type.
It is just specified here so you don't have to cast the resulting type.#

Json Decode Nullable

var json = """null""";
var person = dogs.fromJson<Person?>(json,
    type: Person,
);

Native Serialization

You can also encode and decode objects from and to native dart objects. Values are considered native if they are serializable by the dart json encoder. All examples from the previous section can be used with native serialization as well by just changing the method name from toJson to toNative and fromJson to fromNative.

Native Encode

var person = Person("Alex", 22, {"developer", "dart"});
var json = dogs.toNative<Person>(person);

Native Decode

var encoded = {
  "name": "Alex",
  "age": 22,
  "tags": {"developer","dart"}
};
var person = dogs.fromNative<Person>(encoded);