CODEWITHSUNDEEP
scalamarshallingakka-httphttp4s
tonicebrian
tonicebrian

Reputation: 4795

What is the name of the design pattern for marshalling in libraries like Akka Http or http4s?

In libraries like akka-http or http4s there is always a pattern where you define objects doing the marshalling from/to JSON. When you later need to use the serialization you import the implicits so they are used in function methods.

For a project unrelated to REST apis, I want to implement the same design pattern for serializing case classes into RDF.

What is the name of the design pattern? Where could I find a concise description of the pattern so I don't have to reverse engineer those libraries?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 145

Answers (1)

Gustlik
Gustlik

Reputation: 360

It's done using type class (for serialization logic) and implicit class (to extend method syntax).

Create type class - it's a generic trait:

trait XmlSerializer[T] { //type class
  type Xml = String
  def asXml(element: T, name: String): Xml
}

Create companion object:

object XmlSerializer {
  //easy access to instance by XmlSerializer[User]
  def apply[T](implicit serializer: XmlSerializer[T]): XmlSerializer[T] = serializer

  //implicit class for myUser.asXml("myName") syntax
  //serializer will be injected in compile time
  implicit class RichXmlSerializer[T](val element: T) extends AnyVal {
    def asXml(name: String)(implicit serializer: XmlSerializer[T]) = serializer.asXml(element, name)
  }

  //type class instance
  implicit val stringXmlSerializer: XmlSerializer[String] = new XmlSerializer[String] {
    override def asXml(element: String, name: String) = s"<$name>$element</$name>"
  }
}

Create type classes instances for your model:

case class User(id: Int, name: String)

object User {
  implicit val xmlSerializer: XmlSerializer[User] = new XmlSerializer[User] {
    override def asXml(element: User, name: String) = s"<$name><id>${element.id}</id><name>${element.name}</name></$name>"
  }
}

case class Comment(user: User, content: String)

object Comment {
  implicit val xmlSerializer: XmlSerializer[Comment] = new XmlSerializer[Comment] {
    import example.XmlSerializer._ //import fot implicit class syntax

    override def asXml(element: Comment, name: String) = {
      //user serializer is taken from User companion object
      val userXml = element.user.asXml("user")
      val contentXml = element.content.asXml("content")
      s"<$name>$userXml$contentXml</$name>"
    }
  }
}

Use it: object MyApp extends App {

  import example.XmlSerializer._ //import fot implicit class syntax

  val user = User(1, "John")
  val comment = Comment(user, "Hello!")
  println(XmlSerializer[User].asXml(user, "user"))
  println(comment.asXml("comment"))
}

Output:

<user><id>1</id><name>John</name></user>
<comment><user><id>1</id><name>John</name></user><content>Hello!</content></comment>

Logic is implemented poorly, but it's not the point.

Upvotes: 1

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