2. Object Serialization

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 type parameter species the type involved in the serialization.
kind: Serialize common collections without TypeTrees.
type: Use a basic Type instead of the generic argument.
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 Type

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 type = PersonSupertype;
var json = dogs.toJson(person,
type: type
);

Nullable

Json Encode Nullable

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

!!! example "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

Single

Json Decode

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

Type Parameter required!

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

ListMapRuntime Type

Json Decode List

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

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

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.#

Nullable

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);

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