esserializer

ESSerializer is a JavaScript serialization and deserialization utility.

With ESSerializer, you can serialize JavaScript class instance in JSON format, and later on deserialize it into an instance object, with all Class/Property/Method etc. retained, recursively. This works in both browser and Node.js environment. ESSerializer also support almost all builtin classes and types.

No eval is used during serialization or deserialization. ESSerializer does not introduce any security risk.

Features

ESSerializer offers following features:

• Retain class information of instance field value, recursively
• Retain class extension structure
• Detect class definition automatically, during serialization and deserialization
• Support both ES6 class and old function style class
• Support following operator during serialization & deserialization:
  • getter & setter
  • instanceof
• Support following JavaScript builtin class and type:
  • Array (and all 11 specific array types)
  • ArrayBuffer & SharedArrayBuffer
  • BigInt
  • Boolean
  • DataView
  • Date
  • Error (and all 7 sub-error classes)
  • Infinity
  • Intl (and all 7 specific internationalization classes)
  • Map (with ESSerializer Pro)
  • NaN
  • RegExp
  • Set
  • String
  • Symbol (with ESSerializer Pro)
  • undefined
• Support properties defined by Object.defineProperty() or Object.defineProperties.
• Support ignoring target properties during serialization or deserialization
• Support intercept target properties during serialization
• Support circular structure (with ESSerializer Pro)

Installation

$ npm install esserializer --save

Usage

Import the module

For ES6:

import ESSerializer from 'esserializer';

Or for CommonJS:

const ESSerializer = require('esserializer');

Serialization

To serialize JavaScript object, invoke ESSerializer's serialize method:

const ClassA = require('./ClassA');

const obj = new ClassA();
// do something here, such as obj.methodOfClassA()
const serializedString = ESSerializer.serialize(obj);

Deserialization

To deserialize text and turn it into a corresponding instance object, invoke ESSerializer's deserialize method, with all involved custom classes as parameter (you don't need to include builtin classes such as Date in this parameter):

const ESSerializer = require('esserializer');
const ClassA = require('./ClassA');
const ClassB = require('./ClassB');
const ClassC = require('./ClassC');

const deserializedObj = ESSerializer.deserialize(serializedString, [ClassA, ClassB, ClassC]);

You can also make ESSerializer detecting those involved custom classes automatically, please check Advanced usage for detail.

Demo

Please check the demo page for all examples:

• basic.js
• support_of_OO_extension.js
• support_of_array.js
• support_of_builtin_types.js
• support_of_date.js
• support_of_deserialize_options.js
• support_of_function_style_class_definition.js
• support_of_intercept_require.js
• support_of_properties_defined_in_constructor.js
• support_of_register_classes.js
• support_of_serialize_options.js

Advanced usage

Serialization

You can also pass an options object during serialization and ignore unwanted properties, or intercept target properties:

const serializedString = ESSerializer.serialize(obj, {
  ignoreProperties: ['unwantedFieldX', 'unwantedFieldY'],
  interceptProperties: {
    propertyX: function (value) {
      return value + 1; // After serialization, value of propertyX would be equal to its original value plus 1. Also, "this" can be used here to represent obj.
    }
  }
});

Serialization options:

Option	Type	Description
ignoreProperties	Array	Array of string, represent all properties that would be ignored.
interceptProperties	Object	Object whose key represents property to be intercepted, and its Function value represents how to intercept. The function would take properties' original value as its first parameter.

Deserialization

You can also register some classes globally for deserialization. Once class is registered, it will be remembered by ESSerializer in all files:

ESSerializer.registerClasses([ClassA, ClassB, ClassC]);
const deserializedObj = ESSerializer.deserialize(serializedString);

Or, you can let ESSerializer intercept require operation and detect classes automatically. Once class is detected, it will be remembered by ESSerializer in all files:

ESSerializer.interceptRequire();
require('./ClassA');
require('./ClassB');
require('./ClassC');
const deserializedObj = ESSerializer.deserialize(serializedString);

Custom-Classes-Parameter / Class-Registry / Require-Interception, these 3 methods can be used in combination during deserialzation.

During deserialization, you can also pass an options object to indicate which fields of parsed object can be used as constructor parameters:

const User = require('./User');
const serializedString = '{"idNum":"P123456","name":"Mike","ess_cn":"User"}';
const deserializedObj = ESSerializer.deserialize(serializedString, [User], {
  fieldsForConstructorParameters: ['idNum', 'name']
}); // value of field 'idNum' ('P123456') and 'name' ('Mike') will be used as constructor parameters to initialize User instance.

Deserialization options:

Option	Type	Description
fieldsForConstructorParameters	Array	Array of string, represent fields of parsed object whose value would be used as constructor parameters.
ignoreProperties	Array	Array of string, represent all properties that would be ignored.
rawProperties	Array	Array of string, represent all properties whose raw text value would be retained in deserialization result.

ESSerializer Pro

With a cup of coffee ($5), you can download & update ESSerializer Pro and get following additional features:

• Support circular structure
• Support additional builtin object and type:
  • Map
  • Symbol

Please contact [e-mail] if you are interested.

License

(The MIT License for ESSerializer and private license for ESSerializer Pro)

Copyright (c) 2019-2023 Chuan Shao <[e-mail]>