tjson

Map json strings into objects and vice versa.

Usage

This library contains an encoder and decoder for mapping objects into json strings and vice versa. It will map all properties (including private and protected), as long they are not marked to be not converted.

Sample object class

The properties can be configured with doctrine annotations or the new PHP 8 attributes. A full documentation of the annotations/attributes is following.

class ClassToConvert
{
    #[\Tjson\Attributes\MappedPropertyName(name: 'public_item')]
    public $publicItem;
    
    protected $protectedItem;
    
    private $privateItem;
    
    #[\Tjson\Attributes\MappedPropertyClass(class: ClassC::class)]
    private ClassA|ClassB|ClassC $typedItems;
    
    /**
     * @\Tjson\Attributes\Required(required = true)
     */
    private $anotherProperty = 'withValue';
    
    // Class getters and setters
}

Basic Usage

JSON

This json is assumed as value for $jsonString for the following samples:

{
  "public_item": "Value of public item",
  "protectedItem": 1337,
  "privateItem": null,
  "typedItems": {
    "property1": "foo",
    "property2": "bar"
  },
  "anotherProperty": "anotherValue"
}

Decoder

Decoding is done as follows:

$jsonDecoder = new \Tjson\JsonDecoder();

$yourClassInstance = $jsonDecoder->decodeByClassName($jsonString, \Your\Class::class)
echo $yourClassInstance->getProtectedItem() // 1337

Encoder

Encoding is done as follows:

$jsonEncoder = new \Tjson\JsonEncoder();

$jsonString = $jsonEncoder->encode($yourClassInstance);

Attributes/Annotations

You can use the attributes/annotations to control the behaviour for encoding or decoding. Attributes are always over the doctrine annotations in the hierarchy. That means, if you define something as annotation and as attribute, then the attribute will win.

MappedPropertyClass

This annotation is used for setting a specific class on decoding. It needs to match a type, if given, otherwise an exception is thrown.

MappedPropertyName

This is used to change the name of the property for encoding/decoding. For example, you can use foo_bar as the json property name but use fooBar as your property name in your object/class. But it could also contain a completely different name. If the name defined is occurring multiple times then an exception is thrown. For example, you have to properties, called foo and bar in your class, and you annotate foo with this annotation and the value bar, then you have defined the name bar multiple times, which leads to an exception.

Omit

This annotation explicitly disables the mapping of a property in both directions, meaning if the property exists in the json it would be ignored on decoding and if it exists on encoding it would not be in the json.
CAUTION This annotation overrides the duplication check for this annotation, as it is not considered for mapping.

Required

This property is used to define something as required. This is especially used for untyped properties, meaning a typed property will always be required by default.
CAUTION You may use this annotation to disable the required state of a property, also if it is typed, but that would mean, that properties stay uninitialized and may cause illegal access (for example using getters).