express-serializer

Serialization helper to handle arrays and property filtering for Express APIs.

• Usage
  • Arrays
  • Passing serialization options
  • Filtering
    • Filtering with options
    • Filtering with query parameters
    • Filtering complex objects
    • Combining filters

Developed at the Media Engineering Institute (HEIG-VD).

Usage

The most basic usage of this module is to call your own serialization functions to serialize objects:

const express = require('express');
const serializer = require('express-serializer');
 
const router = express.Router();
 
router.get('/api/user', (req, res) => {
 
  // Get an object to serialize.
  const user = {
    first_name: 'John',
    last_name: 'Doe',
    birth_date: new Date()
  };
 
  // Write your own custom serialization function
  // or use your favorite ORM.
  function serializeUser(req, user) {
    return {
      firstName: user.first_name,
      lastName: user.last_name,
      age: new Date().getFullYear() - user.getFullYear()
    };
  }
 
  // Call the serializer; it always returns a promise
  // (your serialization function can return a promise too).
  serialize(req, user, serializeUser).then(json => {
    res.send(json);
    // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    // Content-Type: application/json
    //
    // {
    //   "firstName": "John",
    //   "lastName": "Doe",
    //   "age": 42
    // }
  }).catch(next);
});

Arrays

Now for the interesting part. It will automatically serialize each object in an array:

// Get an array of objects to serialize.
const users = [
  {
    first_name: 'John',
    last_name: 'Doe',
    birth_date: new Date()
  },
  {
    first_name: 'Bob',
    last_name: 'Smith',
    birth_date: new Date()
  }
];
 
// Use the same serialization function as before.
function serializeUser(req, user) {
  return {
    firstName: user.first_name,
    lastName: user.last_name,
    age: new Date().getFullYear() - user.getFullYear()
  };
}
 
// Each object in the array will be serialized with your function.
serialize(req, users, serializeUser).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // [
  //   {
  //     "firstName": "John",
  //     "lastName": "Doe",
  //     "age": 42
  //   },
  //   {
  //     "firstName": "Bob",
  //     "lastName": "Smith",
  //     "age": 24
  //   }
  // ]
});

Passing serialization options

Any additional options passed to the serializer as the fourth argument will also be passed to your serialization function:

function serializeUser(req, user, options) {
 
  const serialized = {
    name: `${user.first_name} ${user.last_name}`
  };
 
  // Use options to customize the behavior of your serialization function.
  if (options && options.includeBirthDate) {
    serialized.birthDate = user.birth_date
  }
 
  return serialized;
}
 
// Call the serializer with options.
const options = { includeBirthDate: true };
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "name": "John Doe",
  //   "birthDate": "2000-01-01T00:00:00Z"
  // }
});

Filtering

Properties of serialized objects can be whitelisted or blacklisted with the only and except options.

Filtering with options

only and except can be passed in the serialization options:

const user = {
  first_name: 'John',
  last_name: 'Doe',
  birth_date: new Date()
};
 
function serializeUser(req, user) {
  return {
    firstName: user.first_name,
    lastName: user.last_name,
    age: new Date().getFullYear() - user.getFullYear()
  };
}
 
// Pick only the first name:
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, { only: 'firstName' }).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John"
  // }
});
 
// Pick both the first and last names:
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, { only: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ] }).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "lastName": "Doe"
  // }
});
 
// Omit the last name:
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, { except: 'lastName' }).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "age": 42
  // }
});

Filtering with query parameters

The only and except query parameters have the same effect if present in the HTTP request:

// Pick only the first name:
//
// GET /api/user?only=firstName HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
serialize(req, user, serializeUser).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John"
  // }
});
 
// Pick both the first and last names:
//
// GET /api/user?only=firstName&only=lastName HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
serialize(req, user, serializeUser).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "lastName": "Doe"
  // }
});
 
// Omit the last name:
//
// GET /api/user?except=lastName HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
serialize(req, user, serializeUser).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "age": 42
  // }
});

Filtering complex objects

You can use a dotted notation in only and except to filter properties of more complex objects:

const user = {
  first_name: 'John',
  last_name: 'Doe',
  address: {
    city: 'Sunnydale',
    state: 'California'
  }
};
 
function serializeUser(req, user) {
  return {
    firstName: user.first_name,
    lastName: user.last_name,
    address: user.address
  };
}
 
// Pick only the last name and city:
const options = {
  only: [ 'lastName', 'address.city' ]
};
 
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "address": {
  //     "city": "Sunnydale"
  //   }
  // }
});
 
// Omit the last name and city through query parameters:
//
// GET /api/user?except=lastName&except=address.city HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
serialize(req, user, serializeUser).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "address": {
  //     "state": "California"
  //   }
  // }
});

Combining filters

Properties which are both in only and except are not included in the serialized object:

// Pick only the first and last names,
// and omit the last name and city:
const options = {
  only: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ],
  except: [ 'lastName', 'address.city' ]
};
 
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John",
  //   "address": {
  //     "state": "California"
  //   }
  // }
});

If only and except are specified both in the options and in query parameters, they are merged:

// Pick only the first and last names through options,
// and omit the first name through query parameters:
//
// GET /api/user?except=firstName HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
const options = {
  only: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
};
 
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "lastName": "Doe"
  // }
});

If except is present in both the options and in query parameters, the union of all except properties is used:

// Omit the first and last names through options, and omit the state through query parameters:
//
// GET /api/user?except=address.state HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
const options = {
  only: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
};
 
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "address": {
  //     "city": "Sunnydale"
  //   }
  // }
});

If only is present in both the options and in query parameters, the intersection of all only properties is used:

// Pick the first and last names through options,
// and pick the first name through query parameters:
//
// GET /api/user?only=firstName HTTP/1.1
// Accept: application/json
const options = {
  only: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
};
 
serialize(req, user, serializeUser, options).then(json => {
  res.send(json);
  // HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  // Content-Type: application/json
  //
  // {
  //   "firstName": "John"
  // }
});