Fl4m3Ph03n1x

Fl4m3Ph03n1x

How to have custom enconding for struct using Jason?

Background

I am trying to encode a structure into json format using the Jason library. However, this is not working as expected.

Code

Let’s assume I have this struct:

defmodule Test do
   defstruct [:foo, :bar, :baz]
end

And that when using Jason.enconde(%Test{foo: 1, bar: 2, baz:3 }) I want this json to be created:

%{"foo" => 1, "banana" => 5}

Error

It is my understanding that to achieve this I need to implement the Jason.Enconder protocol in my struct:
https://hexdocs.pm/jason/Jason.Encoder.html

defmodule Test do
   defstruct [:foo, :bar, :baz]
   
   defimpl Jason.Encoder do
      @impl Jason.Encoder 
      def encode(value, opts) do
         Jason.Encode.map(%{foo: Map.get(value, :foo), banana: Map.get(value, :bar, 0) + Map.get(value, :baz, 0)}, opts)
      end
   end
end

However, this will not work:

Jason.encode(%Test{foo: 1, bar: 2, baz: 3})
{:error,
 %Protocol.UndefinedError{
   description: "Jason.Encoder protocol must always be explicitly implemented.\n\nIf you own the struct, you can derive the implementation specifying which fields should be encoded to JSON:\n\n    @derive {Jason.Encoder, only: [....]}\n    defstruct ...\n\nIt is also possible to encode all fields, although this should be used carefully to avoid accidentally leaking private information when new fields are added:\n\n    @derive Jason.Encoder\n    defstruct ...\n\nFinally, if you don't own the struct you want to encode to JSON, you may use Protocol.derive/3 placed outside of any module:\n\n    Protocol.derive(Jason.Encoder, NameOfTheStruct, only: [...])\n    Protocol.derive(Jason.Encoder, NameOfTheStruct)\n",
   protocol: Jason.Encoder,
   value: %Test{bar: 2, baz: 3, foo: 1}
 }}

From what I understand, it looks like I can only select/exclude keys to serialize, I cannot transform/add new keys.
Since I own the structure in question, using Protocol.derive is not necessary.

However I fail to understand how I can leverage the Jason.Encoder protocol to achieve what I want.

Questions

  1. Is my objective possible using the Jason library, or is this a limitation?
  2. Am I miss understanding the documentation and doing something incorrect?

Marked As Solved

Fl4m3Ph03n1x

Fl4m3Ph03n1x

Answer

Turns out there is nothing wrong with the code itself.

The issue here is that I was trying these examples in the iex shell. Due to Protocol Consolidation this means that the protocol will be consolidated at compile time. Therefore, because when I launch iex there is nothing regarding the Jason.Encoder protocol compiled, I loose the chance to do it runtime (and iex is runtime).

This also affects tests in an interesting way, to fix them you can either disable Protocol Consolidation wen running under Mix.env() == :test (but it will absolutely hammer your test’s performance) or you can do it at compile time with some extra options.

A very good answer was also given by the community:

And I recommend you read the full thread if you want all the juicy details that I have quickly summarized here.

Where Next?

Popular Backend topics Top

dimitarvp
As a part of my new job I’ll have to learn to manage a local k8s cluster. The tools used are microk8s, tilt and helm. I’ll appreciate an...
New
wolf4earth
At work we plan to replace a totally overkill Kafka instance with a combination of SNS and SQS. I don’t want to get into a discussion on ...
New
Jsdr3398
I’m trying to create a router where everything is in a collection of routes (similar to how I do my routes in expressjs). But it doesn’t ...
New
New
Jsdr3398
I’ve been working on and rewriting my messaging platform several times for the past two years. With Discords new rebranding, it has reall...
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Background I am trying to get a Github Action working with Windows and Bakeware because I am trying to create a release using it. Howeve...
New
MarkIden
Hi, Recommend pls your favorite learning resources in Go, with best books, podcasts etc.
/go
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Background PS: the following situation describes an hypothetical scenario, where I own a company that sells things to customers. I have ...
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Background I have to queries that return a colossal amount of data on their own. I cannot use Repo.all as doing so would materialize thes...
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Background As I often do, I read books to learn and improve myself. I also enjoy teaching and helping others when I can, so this is somet...
New

Other popular topics Top

PragmaticBookshelf
Stop developing web apps with yesterday’s tools. Today, developers are increasingly adopting Clojure as a web-development platform. See f...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Brace yourself for a fun challenge: build a photorealistic 3D renderer from scratch! In just a couple of weeks, build a ray tracer that r...
New
AstonJ
Thanks to @foxtrottwist’s and @Tomas’s posts in this thread: Poll: Which code editor do you use? I bought Onivim! :nerd_face: https://on...
New
AstonJ
Do the test and post your score :nerd_face: :keyboard: If possible, please add info such as the keyboard you’re using, the layout (Qw...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Build highly interactive applications without ever leaving Elixir, the way the experts do. Let LiveView take care of performance, scalabi...
New
DevotionGeo
The V Programming Language Simple language for building maintainable programs V is already mentioned couple of times in the forum, but I...
New
Maartz
Hi folks, I don’t know if I saw this here but, here’s a new programming language, called Roc Reminds me a bit of Elm and thus Haskell. ...
New
New
hilfordjames
There appears to have been an update that has changed the terminology for what has previously been known as the Taskbar Overflow - this h...
New
New