.. index:: single: Serializer
Serializing and deserializing to and from objects and different formats (e.g. JSON or XML) is a very complex topic. Symfony comes with a :doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer>`, which gives you some tools that you can leverage for your solution.
In fact, before you start, get familiar with the serializer, normalizers and encoders by reading the :doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer>`.
The serializer
service is not available by default. To turn it on, activate
it in your configuration:
.. configuration-block:: .. code-block:: yaml # app/config/config.yml framework: # ... serializer: { enable_annotations: true } # Alternatively, if you don't want to use annotations #serializer: { enabled: true } .. code-block:: xml <!-- app/config/config.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd"> <framework:config> <!-- ... --> <framework:serializer enable-annotations="true" /> <!-- Alternatively, if you don't want to use annotations <framework:serializer enabled="true" /> --> </framework:config> </container> .. code-block:: php // app/config/config.php $container->loadFromExtension('framework', array( // ... 'serializer' => array( 'enable_annotations' => true, // Alternatively, if you don't want to use annotations //'enabled' => true, ), ));
Once enabled, the serializer
service can be injected in any service where
you need it or it can be used in a controller:
// src/AppBundle/Controller/DefaultController.php namespace AppBundle\Controller; use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller; use Symfony\Component\Serializer\SerializerInterface; class DefaultController extends Controller { public function indexAction(SerializerInterface $serializer) { // keep reading for usage examples } }
Once enabled, the serializer
service will be available in the container
and will be loaded with four :ref:`encoders <component-serializer-encoders>`
(:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\JsonEncoder`,
:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\XmlEncoder`,
:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\YamlEncoder`, and
:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\CsvEncoder`) and the
:ref:`ObjectNormalizer normalizer <component-serializer-normalizers>`.
You can load normalizers and/or encoders by tagging them as :ref:`serializer.normalizer <reference-dic-tags-serializer-normalizer>` and :ref:`serializer.encoder <reference-dic-tags-serializer-encoder>`. It's also possible to set the priority of the tag in order to decide the matching order.
Here is an example on how to load the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\GetSetMethodNormalizer`:
.. configuration-block:: .. code-block:: yaml # app/config/services.yml services: get_set_method_normalizer: class: Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer public: false tags: [serializer.normalizer] .. code-block:: xml <!-- app/config/services.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"> <services> <service id="get_set_method_normalizer" class="Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer" public="false"> <tag name="serializer.normalizer" /> </service> </services> </container> .. code-block:: php // app/config/services.php use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer; $container->register('get_set_method_normalizer', GetSetMethodNormalizer::class) ->setPublic(false) ->addTag('serializer.normalizer') ;
Enable :ref:`serialization groups annotation <component-serializer-attributes-groups>` with the following configuration:
.. configuration-block:: .. code-block:: yaml # app/config/config.yml framework: # ... serializer: enable_annotations: true .. code-block:: xml <!-- app/config/config.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd"> <framework:config> <!-- ... --> <framework:serializer enable-annotations="true" /> </framework:config> </container> .. code-block:: php // app/config/config.php $container->loadFromExtension('framework', array( // ... 'serializer' => array( 'enable_annotations' => true, ), ));
Next, add the :ref:`@Groups annotations <component-serializer-attributes-groups-annotations>` to your class and choose which groups to use when serializing:
$json = $serializer->serialize( $someObject, 'json', array('groups' => array('group1')) );
In addition to the @Groups
annotation, the Serializer component also
supports Yaml or XML files. These files are automatically loaded when being
stored in one of the following locations:
- The
serialization.yml
orserialization.xml
file in theResources/config/
directory of a bundle; - All
*.yml
and*.xml
files in theResources/config/serialization/
directory of a bundle.
Metadata used by the Serializer component such as groups can be cached to
enhance application performance. Any service implementing the Doctrine\Common\Cache\Cache
interface can be used.
A service leveraging APCu (and APC for PHP < 5.5) is built-in.
.. configuration-block:: .. code-block:: yaml # app/config/config_prod.yml framework: # ... serializer: cache: serializer.mapping.cache.apc .. code-block:: xml <!-- app/config/config_prod.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd"> <framework:config> <!-- ... --> <framework:serializer cache="serializer.mapping.cache.apc" /> </framework:config> </container> .. code-block:: php // app/config/config_prod.php $container->loadFromExtension('framework', array( // ... 'serializer' => array( 'cache' => 'serializer.mapping.cache.apc', ), ));
The use of a :ref:`name converter <component-serializer-converting-property-names-when-serializing-and-deserializing>` service can be defined in the configuration using the :ref:`name_converter <reference-serializer-name_converter>` option.
The built-in :ref:`CamelCase to snake_case name converter <using-camelized-method-names-for-underscored-attributes>`
can be enabled by using the serializer.name_converter.camel_case_to_snake_case
value:
.. configuration-block:: .. code-block:: yaml # app/config/config.yml framework: # ... serializer: name_converter: 'serializer.name_converter.camel_case_to_snake_case' .. code-block:: xml <!-- app/config/config.xml --> <framework:config> <!-- ... --> <framework:serializer name-converter="serializer.name_converter.camel_case_to_snake_case" /> </framework:config> .. code-block:: php // app/config/config.php $container->loadFromExtension('framework', array( // ... 'serializer' => array( 'name_converter' => 'serializer.name_converter.camel_case_to_snake_case, ), ));
ApiPlatform provides an API system supporting JSON-LD and Hydra Core Vocabulary hypermedia formats. It is built on top of the Symfony Framework and its Serializer component. It provides custom normalizers and a custom encoder, custom metadata and a caching system.
If you want to leverage the full power of the Symfony Serializer component, take a look at how this bundle works.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :glob: serializer/*