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This package allows programmers to annotate Dart classes in order to serialize / deserialize them from / to JSON.

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This package allows programmers to annotate Dart classes in order to Serialize / Deserialize them to / from JSON.

Why? #

  • Compatible with all Dart platforms, including Flutter and Web platforms
  • No need to extend your classes from any mixins/base/abstract classes to keep code leaner
  • Clean and simple setup, transparent and straight-forward usage with no heavy maintenance
  • Feature parity with highly popular Java Jackson, and only 4 annotations to remember, to cover all possible use cases.
  • No extra boilerplate, 100% generated code, which you'll never see.
  • Complementary adapters full control over the process when you strive for maximum flexibility.
  • NO dependency on dart:mirrors, one of the reasons is described here.
  • Because Serialization/Deserialization is NOT a responsibility of your Model classes.

Dart classes reflection mechanism is based on reflectable library. This means "extended types information" is auto-generated out of existing Dart program guided by the annotated classes only, as the result types information is accessible at runtime, at a reduced cost.

Typical flutter.dev project integration sample can be found here

Basic setup #

Please add the following dependencies to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  dart_json_mapper:
dev_dependencies:
  build_runner:

Say, you have a dart program main.dart having some classes intended to be traveling to JSON and back.

  • First thing you should do is to put @jsonSerializable annotation on each of those classes
  • Next step is to auto generate main.reflectable.dart file. And afterwards import that file into main.dart

lib/main.dart

import 'package:dart_json_mapper/dart_json_mapper.dart' show JsonMapper, jsonSerializable, JsonProperty;

import 'main.reflectable.dart' show initializeReflectable;

@jsonSerializable // This annotation let instances of MyData travel to/from JSON
class MyData {
  int a = 123;

  @JsonProperty(ignore: true)
  bool b;

  @JsonProperty(name: 'd')
  String c;

  MyData(this.a, this.b, this.c);
}

main() {
  initializeReflectable();
  
  print(JsonMapper.serialize(MyData(456, true, "yes")));
}

output:

{ 
  "a": 456,
  "d": "yes"
}

Go ahead and create a build.yaml file in your project root directory. Then add the following content:

targets:
  $default:
    builders:
      reflectable:
        generate_for:
          - lib/main.dart

Now run the code generation step with the root of your package as the current directory:

> pub run build_runner build

You'll need to re-run code generation each time you are making changes to lib/main.dart So for development time, use watch like this

> pub run build_runner watch

Each time you modify your project code, all *.reflectable.dart files will be updated as well.

  • Next step is to add "*.reflectable.dart" to your .gitignore
  • And this is it, you are all set and ready to go. Happy coding!

Format DateTime / num types #

In order to format DateTime or num instance as a JSON string, it is possible to provide intl based formatting patterns.

DateTime

@JsonProperty(converterParams: {'format': 'MM-dd-yyyy H:m:s'})
DateTime lastPromotionDate = DateTime(2008, 05, 13, 22, 33, 44);

@JsonProperty(converterParams: {'format': 'MM/dd/yyyy'})
DateTime hireDate = DateTime(2003, 02, 28);

output:

{
"lastPromotionDate": "05-13-2008 22:33:44",
"hireDate": "02/28/2003"
}

num

@JsonProperty(converterParams: {'format': '##.##'})
num salary = 1200000.246;

output:

{
"salary": "1200000.25"
}

As well, it is possible to utilize converterParams map to provide custom parameters to your custom converters.

Get or Set fields #

When relying on Dart getters / setters, no need to annotate them. But when you have custom getter / setter methods, you should provide annotations for them.

@jsonSerializable
class AllPrivateFields {
  String _name;
  String _lastName;

  set name(dynamic value) {
    _name = value;
  }

  String get name => _name;

  @JsonProperty(name: 'lastName')
  void setLastName(dynamic value) {
    _lastName = value;
  }

  @JsonProperty(name: 'lastName')
  String getLastName() => _lastName;
}

// given
final json = '''{"name":"Bob","lastName":"Marley"}''';

// when
final instance = JsonMapper.deserialize<AllPrivateFields>(json);

// then
expect(instance.name, 'Bob');
expect(instance.getLastName(), 'Marley');

// when
final targetJson = JsonMapper.serialize(instance, SerializationOptions(indent: ''));

// then
expect(targetJson, json);

Example with immutable class #

enum Color { Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Black, White }

@jsonSerializable
class Car {
    @JsonProperty(name: 'modelName')
    String model;
    
    @JsonProperty(enumValues: Color.values)
    Color color;
    
    @JsonProperty(ignore: true)
    Car replacement;
    
    Car(this.model, this.color);
}

@jsonSerializable
class Immutable {
    final int id;
    final String name;
    final Car car;
    
    const Immutable(this.id, this.name, this.car);
}

print(
  JsonMapper.serialize(
    Immutable(1, 'Bob', Car('Audi', Color.Green))
  )
);

output:

{
 "id": 1,
 "name": "Bob",
 "car": {
  "modelName": "Audi",
  "color": "Color.Green"
 }
}

Constructor parameters #

Sometimes you don't really care or don't want to store some json property as a dedicated class field, but instead, you would like to use it's value in constructor to calculate other class properties. This way you don't have a convenience to annotate a class field, but you could utilize constructor parameter for that.

With the input JSON like this:

{"LogistikTeileInOrdnung":"true"}

You could potentially have a class like this:

@jsonSerializable
class BusinessObject {
  final bool logisticsChecked;
  final bool logisticsOK;

  BusinessObject()
      : logisticsChecked = false,
        logisticsOK = true;

  @jsonConstructor
  BusinessObject.fromJson(
      @JsonProperty(name: 'LogistikTeileInOrdnung') String processed)
      : logisticsChecked = processed != null && processed != 'null',
        logisticsOK = processed == 'true';
}

Unmapped properties #

If you are looking for an alternative to Java Jackson @JsonAnySetter / @JsonAnyGetter It is possible to configure the same scenario as follows:

@jsonSerializable
class UnmappedProperties {
  String name;

  Map<String, dynamic> _extraPropsMap = {};

  @jsonProperty
  void unmappedSet(String name, dynamic value) {
    _extraPropsMap[name] = value;
  }

  @jsonProperty
  Map<String, dynamic> unmappedGet() {
    return _extraPropsMap;
  }
}

// given
final json = '''{"name":"Bob","extra1":1,"extra2":"xxx"}''';

// when
final instance = JsonMapper.deserialize<UnmappedProperties>(json);

// then
expect(instance.name, 'Bob');
expect(instance._extraPropsMap['name'], null);
expect(instance._extraPropsMap['extra1'], 1);
expect(instance._extraPropsMap['extra2'], 'xxx');

Iterable types #

Since Dart language has no possibility to create typed iterables dynamically, it's a bit of a challenge to create exact typed lists/sets/etc via reflection approach. Those types has to be declared explicitly.

For example List() will produce List<dynamic> type which can't be directly set to the concrete target field List<Car> for instance. So obvious workaround will be to cast List<dynamic> => List<Car>, which can be performed as List<dynamic>().cast<Car>().

In order to do so, we'll use Value Decorator Function inspired by Decorator pattern.

final String json = '[{"modelName": "Audi", "color": "Color.Green"}]';
JsonMapper().useAdapter(JsonMapperAdapter(
  valueDecorators: {
    typeOf<List<Car>>(): (value) => value.cast<Car>(),
    typeOf<Set<Car>>(): (value) => value.cast<Car>()
  })
);

final myCarsList = JsonMapper.deserialize<List<Car>>(json);
final myCarsSet = JsonMapper.deserialize<Set<Car>>(json);

Basic iterable based generics using Dart built-in types like List<num>, List<String>, List<bool>, List<DateTime>, Set<num>, Set<String>, Set<bool>, Set<DateTime>, etc. supported out of the box.

For custom iterable types like List<Car> / Set<Car> you have to provide value decorator function as showed in a code snippet above before using deserialization. This function will have explicit cast to concrete iterable type.

OR an easy case #

When you are able to pre-initialize your Iterables with an empty instance, like on example below, you don't need to mess around with value decorators.

@jsonSerializable
class Item {}

@jsonSerializable
class IterablesContainer {
  List<Item> list = [];
  Set<Item> set = {};
}

// given
final json = '''{"list":[{}, {}],"set":[{}, {}]}''';

// when
final target = JsonMapper.deserialize<IterablesContainer>(json);

// then
expect(target.list, TypeMatcher<List<Item>>());
expect(target.list.first, TypeMatcher<Item>());
expect(target.list.length, 2);

expect(target.set, TypeMatcher<Set<Item>>());
expect(target.set.first, TypeMatcher<Item>());
expect(target.set.length, 2);

List of Lists of Lists ... #

Using value decorators, it's possible to configure nested lists of virtually any depth.

@jsonSerializable
class Item {}

@jsonSerializable
@Json(valueDecorators: ListOfLists.valueDecorators)
class ListOfLists {
  static Map<Type, ValueDecoratorFunction> valueDecorators() =>
      {
        typeOf<List<List<Item>>>(): (value) => value.cast<List<Item>>(),
        typeOf<List<Item>>(): (value) => value.cast<Item>()
      };
  
  List<List<Item>> lists;
}

// given
final json = '''{
 "lists": [
   [{}, {}],
   [{}, {}, {}]
 ]
}''';

// when
final target = JsonMapper.deserialize<ListOfLists>(json);

// then
expect(target.lists.length, 2);
expect(target.lists.first.length, 2);
expect(target.lists.last.length, 3);
expect(target.lists.first.first, TypeMatcher<Item>());
expect(target.lists.last.first, TypeMatcher<Item>());

Enum types #

Enum construction in Dart has a specific meaning, and has to be treated accordingly.

Generally, we always have to bear in mind following cases around Enums:

  • Your own Enums declared as part of your program code, thus they can be annotated.
  • Enums from third party packages, they can not be annotated.

So whenever possible, you should annotate your Enum declarations as follows

@jsonSerializable
@Json(enumValues: Color.values)
enum Color { Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Black, White }

And annotate class fields referencing Enums as follows

@JsonProperty(enumValues: Color.values)
Color color;

@JsonProperty(enumValues: Color.values)
List<Color> colors;

@JsonProperty(enumValues: Color.values)
Set<Color> colorsSet;

@JsonProperty(enumValues: Color.values)
Map<Color, int> colorPriorities = <Color, int>{};

Each enum based class field has to be annotated as showed in a snippet above. Enum.values refers to a list of all possible enum values, it's a handy built in capability of all enum based types. Without providing all values it's not possible to traverse it's values properly.

Inherited classes derived from abstract / base class #

Please use complementary @Json(typeNameProperty: 'typeName') annotation for subclasses derived from abstract or base class. This way dart-json-mapper will dump the concrete object type to the JSON output during serialization process. This ensures, that dart-json-mapper will be able to reconstruct the object with the proper type during deserialization process.

@jsonSerializable
@Json(typeNameProperty: 'typeName')
abstract class Business {
  String name;
}

@jsonSerializable
class Hotel extends Business {
  int stars;

  Hotel(this.stars);
}

@jsonSerializable
class Startup extends Business {
  int userCount;

  Startup(this.userCount);
}

@jsonSerializable
class Stakeholder {
  String fullName;
  List<Business> businesses = [];

  Stakeholder(this.fullName, this.businesses);
}

// given
final jack = Stakeholder("Jack", [Startup(10), Hotel(4)]);

// when
final String json = JsonMapper.serialize(jack);
final Stakeholder target = JsonMapper.deserialize(json);

// then
expect(target.businesses[0], TypeMatcher<Startup>());
expect(target.businesses[1], TypeMatcher<Hotel>());

Serialization template #

In case you already have an instance of huge JSON Map object and portion of it needs to be surgically updated, then you can pass your Map<String, dynamic> instance as a template parameter for SerializationOptions

enum Color { Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Black, White }

// given
final template = {'a': 'a', 'b': true};

// when
final json = JsonMapper.serialize(Car('Tesla S3', Color.Black),
  SerializationOptions(indent: '', template: template));

// then
expect(json,
  '''{"a":"a","b":true,"modelName":"Tesla S3","color":"Color.Black"}''');

Deserialization template #

In case you need to deserialize specific Map<K, V> type then you can pass typed instance of it as a template parameter for DeserializationOptions.

Since typed Map<K, V> instance cannot be created dynamically due to Dart language nature, so you are providing ready made instance to use for deserialization output.

enum Color { Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Black, White }

// given
final json = '{"Color.Black":1,"Color.Blue":2}';

// when
final target = JsonMapper.deserialize(
          json, DeserializationOptions(template: <Color, int>{}));

// then
expect(target, TypeMatcher<Map<Color, int>>());
expect(target.containsKey(Color.Black), true);
expect(target.containsKey(Color.Blue), true);
expect(target[Color.Black], 1);
expect(target[Color.Blue], 2);

Name casing styles [Pascal, Kebab, Snake, SnakeAllCaps] #

Assuming your Dart code is following Camel case style, but that is not always true for JSON models, they could follow one of those popular - Pascal, Kebab, Snake, SnakeAllCaps styles, right?

That's why we need a smart way to manage that, instead of hand coding each property using @JsonProperty(name: ...) it is possible to pass CaseStyle parameter to serialization / deserialization methods.

@jsonSerializable
class NameCaseObject {
  String mainTitle;
  String description;
  bool hasMainProperty;

  NameCaseObject({this.mainTitle, this.description, this.hasMainProperty});
}

/// Serialization

// given
final instance = NameCaseObject(
    mainTitle: 'title', description: 'desc', hasMainProperty: true);
// when
final json = JsonMapper.serialize(instance,
    SerializationOptions(indent: '', caseStyle: CaseStyle.Kebab));
// then
expect(json, '''{"main-title":"title","description":"desc","has-main-property":true}''');

/// Deserialization

// given
final json = '''{"main-title":"title","description":"desc","has-main-property":true}''';
// when
final instance = JsonMapper.deserialize<NameCaseObject>(
    json, DeserializationOptions(caseStyle: CaseStyle.Kebab));
// then
expect(instance.mainTitle, 'title');
expect(instance.description, 'desc');
expect(instance.hasMainProperty, true);

Nesting configuration #

In case if you need to operate on particular portions of huge JSON object and you don't have a true desire to reconstruct the same deep nested JSON objects hierarchy with corresponding Dart classes. This section is for you!

Say, you have a json similar to this one

{
  "root": {
    "foo": {
      "bar": {
        "baz": {
          "items": [
            "a",
            "b",
            "c"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}          

And with code similar to this one

@jsonSerializable
@Json(name: 'root/foo/bar')
class BarObject {
  @JsonProperty(name: 'baz/items')
  List<String> items;

  BarObject({this.items});
}

// when
final instance = JsonMapper.deserialize<BarObject>(json);

// then
expect(instance.items.length, 3);
expect(instance.items, ['a', 'b', 'c']);

you'll have it done nice and quick.

@Json(name: 'root/foo/bar') provides a root nesting for the entire annotated class, this means all class fields will be nested under this 'root/foo/bar' path in Json.

@JsonProperty(name: 'baz/items') provides a field nesting relative to the class root nesting

name is compliant with RFC 6901 JSON pointer

Schemes #

Scheme - is a set of annotations associated with common scheme id. This enables the possibility to map a single Dart class to many different JSON structures.

This approach usually useful for distinguishing [DEV, PROD, TEST, ...] environments, w/o producing separate Dart classes for each environment.

enum Scheme { A, B }

@jsonSerializable
@Json(name: 'default')
@Json(name: '_', scheme: Scheme.B)
@Json(name: 'root', scheme: Scheme.A)
class Object {
  @JsonProperty(name: 'title_test', scheme: Scheme.B)
  String title;

  Object(this.title);
}

// given
final instance = Object('Scheme A');
// when
final json = JsonMapper.serialize(instance, SerializationOptions(indent: '', scheme: Scheme.A));
// then
expect(json, '''{"root":{"title":"Scheme A"}}''');

// given
final instance = Object('Scheme B');
// when
final json = JsonMapper.serialize(instance, SerializationOptions(indent: '', scheme: Scheme.B));
// then
expect(json, '''{"_":{"title_test":"Scheme B"}}''');

// given
final instance = Object('No Scheme');
// when
final json = JsonMapper.serialize(instance, SerializationOptions(indent: ''));
// then
expect(json, '''{"default":{"title":"No Scheme"}}''');

Objects cloning #

If you are wondering how to deep-clone Dart Objects, or even considering using libraries like Freezed to accomplish that, then this section probably will be useful for you

// given
final car = Car('Tesla S3', Color.Black);

// when
final cloneCar = JsonMapper.clone(car);

// then
expect(cloneCar == car, false);
expect(cloneCar.color == car.color, true);
expect(cloneCar.model == car.model, true);

Or if you would like to override some properties for the clonned object instance

// given
final car = Car('Tesla S3', Color.Black);

// when
final cloneCar = JsonMapper.copyWith(car, {'color': Color.Blue}); // overriding Black by Blue

// then
expect(cloneCar == car, false);
expect(cloneCar.color, Color.Blue);
expect(cloneCar.model, car.model);

Custom types #

For the very custom types, specific ones, or doesn't currently supported by this library, you can provide your own custom Converter class per each custom runtimeType.

/// Abstract class for custom converters implementations
abstract class ICustomConverter<T> {
  dynamic toJSON(T object, [JsonProperty jsonProperty]);
  T fromJSON(dynamic jsonValue, [JsonProperty jsonProperty]);
}

All you need to get going with this, is to implement this abstract class

class CustomStringConverter implements ICustomConverter<String> {
  const CustomStringConverter() : super();

  @override
  String fromJSON(dynamic jsonValue, [JsonProperty jsonProperty]) {
    return jsonValue;
  }

  @override
  dynamic toJSON(String object, [JsonProperty jsonProperty]) {
    return '_${object}_';
  }
}

And register it afterwards, if you want to have it applied for all occurrences of specified type

JsonMapper().useAdapter(JsonMapperAdapter(
  converters: {
    String: CustomStringConverter()
  })
);

OR use it individually on selected class fields, via @JsonProperty annotation

@JsonProperty(converter: CustomStringConverter())
String title;

Annotations #

  • @JsonSerializable() or @jsonSerializable for short, It's a required marker annotation for class or Enum declarations. Use it to mark all the Dart objects you'd like to be traveling to / from JSON
    • Has NO params
  • @JsonConstructor() or @jsonConstructor for short, It's an optional constructor only marker annotation. Use it to mark specific Dart class constructor you'd like to be used during deserialization.
    • scheme dynamic Scheme marker to associate this meta information with particular mapping scheme
  • @Json(...) It's an optional annotation for class or Enum declaration, describes a Dart object to JSON Object mapping. Why it's not a @JsonObject()? just for you to type less characters 😄
    • name Defines RFC 6901 JSON pointer, denotes the json Object root name/path to be used for mapping. Example: 'foo', 'bar', 'foo/bar/baz'
    • caseStyle The most popular ways to combine words into a single string. Based on assumption: That all Dart class fields initially given as CaseStyle.Camel
    • typeNameProperty declares the necessity for annotated class and all it's subclasses to dump their own type name to the property named as this param value
    • enumValues Provides a way to specify enum values, via Dart built in capability for all Enum instances. Enum.values
    • valueDecorators Provides an inline way to specify a static function which will return a Map of value decorators, to support type casting activities for Map<K, V>, and other generic Iterables
    • ignoreNullMembers If set to true Null class members will be excluded from serialization process
    • allowCircularReferences As of int type. Allows certain number of circular object references during serialization.
    • scheme dynamic Scheme marker to associate this meta information with particular mapping scheme
  • @JsonProperty(...) It's an optional class member annotation, describes JSON Object property mapping.
    • name Defines RFC 6901 JSON pointer, denotes the name/path to be used for property mapping relative to the class root nesting Example: 'foo', 'bar', 'foo/bar/baz'
    • scheme dynamic Scheme marker to associate this meta information with particular mapping scheme
    • converter Declares custom converter instance, to be used for annotated field serialization / deserialization
    • converterParams A Map<String, dynamic> of named parameters to be passed to the converter instance
    • ignore A bool declares annotated field as ignored so it will be excluded from serialization / deserialization process
    • ignoreIfNull A bool declares annotated field as ignored if it's value is null so it will be excluded from serialization / deserialization process
    • enumValues Provides a way to specify enum values, via Dart built in capability for all Enum instances. Enum.values
    • defaultValue Defines field default value

Known limitations #

  • Dart code obfuscation. If you are using or planning to use extra-gen-snapshot-options=--obfuscate option with your Flutter project, this library shouldn't be your primary choice then. At the moment there is no workaround for this to play nicely together.

Complementary adapter libraries #

If you want a seamless integration with popular use cases, feel free to pick an existing adapter or create one for your use case and make a PR to this repo.

Adapter - is a library which contains a bundle of pre-configured:

For example, you would like to refer to Color type from Flutter in your model class.

  • Make sure you have following dependencies in your pubspec.yaml:

    dependencies:
      dart_json_mapper:
      dart_json_mapper_flutter:
    dev_dependencies:
      build_runner:
    
  • Usually, adapter library exposes final adapter definition instance, to be provided as a parameter to JsonMapper().useAdapter(adapter)

    import 'dart:ui' show Color;
    import 'package:dart_json_mapper/dart_json_mapper.dart' show JsonMapper, jsonSerializable;    
    import 'package:dart_json_mapper_flutter/dart_json_mapper_flutter.dart' show flutterAdapter;
      
    import 'main.reflectable.dart' show initializeReflectable;
      
    @jsonSerializable
    class ColorfulItem {
      String name;
      Color color;
      
      ColorfulItem(this.name, this.color);
    }
      
    void main() {
      initializeReflectable();
      JsonMapper().useAdapter(flutterAdapter);
        
      print(JsonMapper.serialize(
         ColorfulItem('Item 1', Color(0x003f4f5f))
      ));
    }
    

    output:

    {
      "name": "Item 1",
      "color": "#003F4F5F"
    }
    

You can easily mix and combine several adapters using following one-liner: #

JsonMapper()
   .useAdapter(fixnumAdapter)
   .useAdapter(flutterAdapter)
   .useAdapter(mobXAdapter)
   .info(); // print out a list of used adapters to console
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This package allows programmers to annotate Dart classes in order to serialize / deserialize them from / to JSON.

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License

unknown (LICENSE)

Dependencies

intl, reflectable

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