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features/arbitrary_types.md
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# Arbitrary Type Conversions
Every type can be serialized in JSON, not just STL containers and scalar types. Usually, you would do something along those lines:
```cpp
namespace ns {
// a simple struct to model a person
struct person {
std::string name;
std::string address;
int age;
};
} // namespace ns
ns::person p = {"Ned Flanders", "744 Evergreen Terrace", 60};
// convert to JSON: copy each value into the JSON object
json j;
j["name"] = p.name;
j["address"] = p.address;
j["age"] = p.age;
// ...
// convert from JSON: copy each value from the JSON object
ns::person p {
j["name"].get<std::string>(),
j["address"].get<std::string>(),
j["age"].get<int>()
};
```
It works, but that's quite a lot of boilerplate... Fortunately, there's a better way:
```cpp
// create a person
ns::person p {"Ned Flanders", "744 Evergreen Terrace", 60};
// conversion: person -> json
json j = p;
std::cout << j << std::endl;
// {"address":"744 Evergreen Terrace","age":60,"name":"Ned Flanders"}
// conversion: json -> person
auto p2 = j.get<ns::person>();
// that's it
assert(p == p2);
```
## Basic usage
To make this work with one of your types, you only need to provide two functions:
```cpp
using json = nlohmann::json;
namespace ns {
void to_json(json& j, const person& p) {
j = json{ {"name", p.name}, {"address", p.address}, {"age", p.age} };
}
void from_json(const json& j, person& p) {
j.at("name").get_to(p.name);
j.at("address").get_to(p.address);
j.at("age").get_to(p.age);
}
} // namespace ns
```
That's all! When calling the `json` constructor with your type, your custom `to_json` method will be automatically called.
Likewise, when calling `get<your_type>()` or `get_to(your_type&)`, the `from_json` method will be called.
Some important things:
* Those methods **MUST** be in your type's namespace (which can be the global namespace), or the library will not be able to locate them (in this example, they are in namespace `ns`, where `person` is defined).
* Those methods **MUST** be available (e.g., proper headers must be included) everywhere you use these conversions. Look at [#1108](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/1108) for errors that may occur otherwise.
* When using `get<your_type>()`, `your_type` **MUST** be [DefaultConstructible](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/named_req/DefaultConstructible). (There is a way to bypass this requirement described later.)
* In function `from_json`, use function [`at()`](../api/basic_json/at.md) to access the object values rather than `operator[]`. In case a key does not exist, `at` throws an exception that you can handle, whereas `operator[]` exhibits undefined behavior.
* You do not need to add serializers or deserializers for STL types like `std::vector`: the library already implements these.
## Simplify your life with macros
If you just want to serialize/deserialize some structs, the `to_json`/`from_json` functions can be a lot of boilerplate.
There are several macros to make your life easier as long as you want to use a JSON object as serialization. The macros are following the naming pattern, and you can choose the macro based on the needed features:
- All the macros start with `NLOHMANN_DEFINE`.
- If you want a macro for the derived object, use the [`DERIVED_TYPE`](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) variant, otherwise use `TYPE`.
- The `DERIVED_TYPE` variant requires an additional parameter of a base type, which should have the `to_json`/`from_json` functions defined. For instance, with a macro of its own.
- If you need access to the private fields use [`INTRUSIVE`](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_intrusive.md) variant, otherwise use [`NON_INTRUSIVE`](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_non_intrusive.md).
- The `INTRUSIVE` macro should be defined **inside** the target class/struct, `NON_INTRUSIVE` should be defined within the same namespace.
- If you want to deserialize the incomplete JSONs, use the `WITH_DEFAULTS` variant, which will use the default values for the member variables absent in JSON, the variant without `WITH_DEFAULTS` will raise an exception.
- If you do not need deserialization at all and only interested in `to_json` function, you can use the `ONLY_SERIALIZE` variant.
- If you want to use the custom JSON names for member variables, use [`WITH_NAMES`](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_with_names.md) variant, otherwise the JSON name of the variable will be the same as its regular name.
For all the macros, the first parameter is the name of the class/struct. The `DERIVED_TYPE` macros require a second parameter of a base class. All the remaining parameters name the member variables. The `WITH_NAMES` macros require a JSON name before each of the variables.
| Need access to private members | Need only de-serialization | Allow missing values when de-serializing | macro |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_intrusive.md) |
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE_WITH_DEFAULT**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_intrusive.md) |
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: grey;">:octicons-skip-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE_ONLY_SERIALIZE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_intrusive.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_non_intrusive.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE_WITH_DEFAULT**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_non_intrusive.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: grey;">:octicons-skip-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE_ONLY_SERIALIZE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_type_non_intrusive.md) |
For _derived_ classes and structs, use the following macros
| Need access to private members | Need only de-serialization | Allow missing values when de-serializing | macro |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_INTRUSIVE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_INTRUSIVE_WITH_DEFAULT**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
| <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: grey;">:octicons-skip-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_INTRUSIVE_ONLY_SERIALIZE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE_WITH_DEFAULT**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
| <div style="color: red;">:octicons-x-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: green;">:octicons-check-circle-fill-24:</div> | <div style="color: grey;">:octicons-skip-fill-24:</div> | [**NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE_ONLY_SERIALIZE**](../api/macros/nlohmann_define_derived_type.md) |
!!! info "Implementation limits"
- The current macro implementations are limited to at most 63 member variables. If you want to serialize/deserialize
types with more than 63 member variables, you need to define the `to_json`/`from_json` functions manually.
- For the `WITH_NAMES` variants the limit is halved to 31 member variables.
??? example
The `to_json`/`from_json` functions for the `person` struct above can be created with:
```cpp
namespace ns {
NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE(person, name, address, age)
}
```
If you want to inherit the `person` struct and add a field to it, it can be done with:
```cpp
namespace ns {
struct person_derived : person {
std::string email;
};
NLOHMANN_DEFINE_DERIVED_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE(person_derived, person, email)
}
```
Here is another example with private members, where `NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE` is needed:
```cpp
namespace ns {
class address {
private:
std::string street;
int housenumber;
int postcode;
public:
NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE(address, street, housenumber, postcode)
};
}
```
Or in case if you use some naming convention that you do not want to expose to JSON:
```cpp
namespace ns {
class address {
private:
std::string m_street;
int m_housenumber;
int m_postcode;
public:
NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_INTRUSIVE_WITH_NAMES(address, "street", m_street,
"housenumber", m_housenumber,
"postcode", m_postcode)
};
}
```
## How do I convert third-party types?
This requires a bit more advanced technique. But first, let us see how this conversion mechanism works:
The library uses **JSON Serializers** to convert types to JSON.
The default serializer for `nlohmann::json` is `nlohmann::adl_serializer` (ADL means [Argument-Dependent Lookup](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/adl)).
It is implemented like this (simplified):
```cpp
template <typename T>
struct adl_serializer {
static void to_json(json& j, const T& value) {
// calls the "to_json" method in T's namespace
}
static void from_json(const json& j, T& value) {
// same thing, but with the "from_json" method
}
};
```
This serializer works fine when you have control over the type's namespace. However, what about `boost::optional` or `std::filesystem::path` (C++17)? Hijacking the `boost` namespace is pretty bad, and it's illegal to add something other than template specializations to `std`...
To solve this, you need to add a specialization of `adl_serializer` to the `nlohmann` namespace, here's an example:
```cpp
// partial specialization (full specialization works too)
NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
template <typename T>
struct adl_serializer<boost::optional<T>> {
static void to_json(json& j, const boost::optional<T>& opt) {
if (opt == boost::none) {
j = nullptr;
} else {
j = *opt; // this will call adl_serializer<T>::to_json which will
// find the free function to_json in T's namespace!
}
}
static void from_json(const json& j, boost::optional<T>& opt) {
if (j.is_null()) {
opt = boost::none;
} else {
opt = j.get<T>(); // same as above, but with
// adl_serializer<T>::from_json
}
}
};
NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_END
```
!!! note "ABI compatibility"
Use [`NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_BEGIN`](../api/macros/nlohmann_json_namespace_begin.md) and `NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_END`
instead of `#!cpp namespace nlohmann { }` in code which may be linked with different versions of this library.
## How can I use `get()` for non-default constructible/non-copyable types?
There is a way if your type is [MoveConstructible](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/named_req/MoveConstructible). You will need to specialize the `adl_serializer` as well, but with a special `from_json` overload:
```cpp
struct move_only_type {
move_only_type() = delete;
move_only_type(int ii): i(ii) {}
move_only_type(const move_only_type&) = delete;
move_only_type(move_only_type&&) = default;
int i;
};
namespace nlohmann {
template <>
struct adl_serializer<move_only_type> {
// note: the return type is no longer 'void', and the method only takes
// one argument
static move_only_type from_json(const json& j) {
return {j.get<int>()};
}
// Here's the catch! You must provide a to_json method! Otherwise, you
// will not be able to convert move_only_type to json, since you fully
// specialized adl_serializer on that type
static void to_json(json& j, move_only_type t) {
j = t.i;
}
};
}
```
## Can I write my own serializer? (Advanced use)
Yes. You might want to take a look at [`unit-udt.cpp`](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/blob/develop/tests/src/unit-udt.cpp) in the test suite, to see a few examples.
If you write your own serializer, you will need to do a few things:
- use a different `basic_json` alias than `nlohmann::json` (the last template parameter of `basic_json` is the `JSONSerializer`)
- use your `basic_json` alias (or a template parameter) in all your `to_json`/`from_json` methods
- use `nlohmann::to_json` and `nlohmann::from_json` when you need ADL
Here is an example, without simplifications, that only accepts types with a size <= 32, and uses ADL.
```cpp
// You should use void as a second template argument
// if you don't need compile-time checks on T
template<typename T, typename SFINAE = typename std::enable_if<sizeof(T) <= 32>::type>
struct less_than_32_serializer {
template <typename BasicJsonType>
static void to_json(BasicJsonType& j, T value) {
// we want to use ADL, and call the correct to_json overload
using nlohmann::to_json; // this method is called by adl_serializer,
// this is where the magic happens
to_json(j, value);
}
template <typename BasicJsonType>
static void from_json(const BasicJsonType& j, T& value) {
// same thing here
using nlohmann::from_json;
from_json(j, value);
}
};
```
Be **very** careful when reimplementing your serializer, you can stack overflow if you don't pay attention:
```cpp
template <typename T, void>
struct bad_serializer
{
template <typename BasicJsonType>
static void to_json(BasicJsonType& j, const T& value) {
// this calls BasicJsonType::json_serializer<T>::to_json(j, value);
// if BasicJsonType::json_serializer == bad_serializer ... oops!
j = value;
}
template <typename BasicJsonType>
static void from_json(const BasicJsonType& j, T& value) {
// this calls BasicJsonType::json_serializer<T>::from_json(j, value);
// if BasicJsonType::json_serializer == bad_serializer ... oops!
value = j.template get<T>(); // oops!
}
};
```