How configure JMSSerializer in Symfony to serialize custom class to/from int? - symfony

Question

I am working on a Symfony 3.4 based web app project which uses JMSSerializer to serialize different custom classes to JSON to send this data to mobile apps.
How can I serialize/deserialize a custom class to/from to int?
Assume we have the following classes:
<?php
// AppBundle/Entity/...
class NotificationInfo {
public $date; // DateTime
public $priority; // Int 1-10
public $repeates; // Boolean
public function toInt() {
// Create a simple Int value
// date = 04/27/2020
// priority = 5
// repeats = true
// ==> int value = 4272020 5 1 = 427202051
}
public function __construnct($intValue) {
// ==> Split int value into date, priority and repeats...
}
}
class ToDoItem {
public $title;
public $tags;
public $notificationInfo;
}
// AppBundle/Resources/config/serializer/Entiy.ToDoItem.yml
AppBundle\Entity\ToDoItem:
exclusion_policy: ALL
properties:
title:
type: string
expose: true
tags:
type: string
expose: true
notificationInfo:
type: integer
expose: true
So the class NotificationInfo also has function to create it from int and to serialize it to in. How to tell the serializer that it should serialize the value of $notificationInfo to int?
I could use the following instead:
notificationInfo:
type: AppBundle\Entity\NotificationInfo
expose: true
However in this case I need to configure the serialization of NotificationInfo where I can only specify which property should serialized to which value...
EDIT:
This is the JSON I would like to create:
{
"title": "Something ToDO",
"tags": "some,tags",
"notificationInfo": 427202051
}
This is what I am NOT looking for:
{
"title": "Something ToDO",
"tags": "some,tags",
"notificationInfo": {
"intValue": 427202051
}
}

Answer 1

After a lot more digging I found the following solution for my problem: I added a custom serialization Handler which tells JMSSerializer how to handle my custom class:
class NotificationInfoHandler implements SubscribingHandlerInterface {
public static function getSubscribingMethods() {
return [
[
'direction' => GraphNavigator::DIRECTION_SERIALIZATION,
'format' => 'json',
'type' => 'NotificationInfo',
'method' => 'serializeNotificationInfoToJson',
],
[
'direction' => GraphNavigator::DIRECTION_DESERIALIZATION,
'format' => 'json',
'type' => 'NotificationInfo',
'method' => 'deserializeNotificationInfoToJson',
],
;
public function serializeNotificationInfoToJson(JsonSerializationVisitor $visitor, NotificationInfo $info, array $type, Context $context) {
return $info->toInt();
}
public function deserializeNotificationInfoToJson(JsonDeserializationVisitor $visitor, $infoAsInt, array $type, Context $context) {
return (is_int($infoAsInt) ? NotificationInfo::fromInt($infoAsInt) : NotificationInfo::emptyInfo());
}
}
Thanks to autowire the handler is automatically added and can be used in the serializer metadata:
notificationInfo:
type: NotificationInfo
expose: true

Answer 2

you can use VirtualProperty method to add any method of you class
into json response
use JMS\Serializer\Annotation as Serializer;
class NotificationInfo
{
/**
* #return int
* #Serializer\VirtualProperty()
* #Serializer\SerializedName("formatedLocation")
*/
public function toInt()
{
return 4272020;
}
}