Circe decoder for scalaz.Maybe

Question

Here's a simple finch server, using circe as decoder:

import com.twitter.finagle.http.RequestBuilder
import com.twitter.io.Buf
import io.circe.generic.auto._
import io.finch._
import io.finch.circe._

case class Test(myValue: Int)

val api = post("foo" :: body.as[Test]) { test: Test => Ok(test) }

val bodyPost = RequestBuilder()
  .url("http://localhost:8080/foo")
  .buildPost(Buf.Utf8("""{ "myValue" : 42 }"""))

api.toService.apply(bodyPost).onSuccess { response =>
  println(s"$response: ${response.contentString}")
}

// output: Response("HTTP/1.1 Status(200)"): {"myValue":42}

Changing the myValue into an Option works out of the box, giving the same result as above code. However, changing it into a scalaz.Maybe:

import scalaz.Maybe
case class Test(myValue: Maybe[Int])

results in:

Response("HTTP/1.1 Status(400)"): {"message":"body cannot be converted to Test: CNil: El(DownField(myValue),true,false)."}

How should I implement the needed encoder/decoder?

Eyebrow

Answer 1

Here's a slightly different approach:

import io.circe.{ Decoder, Encoder }
import scalaz.Maybe

trait ScalazInstances {
  implicit def decodeMaybe[A: Decoder]: Decoder[Maybe[A]] =
    Decoder[Option[A]].map(Maybe.fromOption)

  implicit def encodeMaybe[A: Encoder]: Encoder[Maybe[A]] =
    Encoder[Option[A]].contramap(_.toOption)
}

object ScalazInstances extends ScalazInstances

And then:

scala> import scalaz.Scalaz._, ScalazInstances._
import scalaz.Scalaz._
import ScalazInstances._

scala> import io.circe.parser.decode, io.circe.syntax._
import io.circe.parser.decode
import io.circe.syntax._

scala> Map("a" -> 1).just.asJson.noSpaces
res0: String = {"a":1}

scala> decode[Maybe[Int]]("1")
res1: Either[io.circe.Error,scalaz.Maybe[Int]] = Right(Just(1))

The main advantage of this implementation (apart from the fact that it's more generic and even a little more concise) is that it has the behavior you generally expect for optional members in case classes. With your implementation, for example, the following inputs fail:

scala> import io.circe.generic.auto._
import io.circe.generic.auto._

scala> case class Foo(i: Maybe[Int], s: String)
defined class Foo

scala> decode[Foo]("""{ "s": "abcd" }""")
res2: Either[io.circe.Error,Foo] = Left(DecodingFailure(Attempt to decode value on failed cursor, List(DownField(i))))

scala> decode[Foo]("""{ "i": null, "s": "abcd" }""")
res3: Either[io.circe.Error,Foo] = Left(DecodingFailure(Int, List(DownField(i))))

While if you use the decoder above that just delegates to the Option decoder, they get decoded to Empty:

scala> decode[Foo]("""{ "s": "abcd" }""")
res0: Either[io.circe.Error,Foo] = Right(Foo(Empty(),abcd))

scala> decode[Foo]("""{ "i": null, "s": "abcd" }""")
res1: Either[io.circe.Error,Foo] = Right(Foo(Empty(),abcd))

Whether you want this behavior or not is up to you, of course, but it's what most people are likely to expect from a Maybe codec.

Footnote

One disadvantage (in some very specific cases) of my decoder is that it instantiates an extra Option for every successfully decoded value. If you're extremely concerned about allocations (or if you're just curious about how this stuff works, which is probably a better reason), you can implement your own based on circe's decodeOption:

import cats.syntax.either._
import io.circe.{ Decoder, DecodingFailure, Encoder, FailedCursor, HCursor }
import scalaz.Maybe

implicit def decodeMaybe[A](implicit decodeA: Decoder[A]): Decoder[Maybe[A]] =
  Decoder.withReattempt {
    case c: HCursor if c.value.isNull => Right(Maybe.empty)
    case c: HCursor => decodeA(c).map(Maybe.just)
    case c: FailedCursor if !c.incorrectFocus => Right(Maybe.empty)
    case c: FailedCursor => Left(DecodingFailure("[A]Maybe[A]", c.history))
  }

The Decoder.withReattempt part is the magic that allows us to decode something like {} into a case class Foo(v: Maybe[Int]) and get Foo(Maybe.empty) as expected. The name is a little confusing, but what it really means is "apply this decoding operation even if the last operation failed". In the context of parsing e.g. a case class like case class Foo(v: Maybe[Int]), the last operation would be the attempt to select a "v" field in the JSON object. If there's no "v" key, normally that would be the end of the story—our decoder wouldn't even be applied, because there's nothing to apply it to. withReattempt allows us to continue decoding anyway.

This code is pretty low-level and these parts of the Decoder and HCursor APIs are designed more for efficiency than for user-friendliness, but it's still possible to tell what's going on if you stare at it. If the last operation didn't fail, we can check whether the current JSON value is null and return Maybe.empty if it is. If it's not, we try to decode it as an A and wrap the result in Maybe.just if it succeeds. If the last operation failed, we first check whether the operation and the last focus are mismatched (a detail that's necessary because of some weird corner cases—see my proposal here and the linked bug report for details). If they're not, we succeed emptily. If they are mismatched, we fail.

Again, you almost certainly shouldn't use this version—mapping over the Decoder[Option[A]] is clearer, more future-proof, and only very slightly less efficient. Understanding withReattempt can be useful anyway, though.

Blanton

So basically what you are saying is "don't do the whole thing yourself because there are holes in it, it's better to delegate to existing Option codec that will handle stuff such as missing values and null values correctly". And I agree of course. But if it were some other type that's not isomorphic to something that already exists in circe.generic.auto._, manual approach like the one in my answer is still fine? (as long as I manage to patch most of the holes) – Eyebrow

Answer 2

Here's a possible implementation:

implicit def encodeDecodeMaybe: Encoder[Maybe[Int]] with Decoder[Maybe[Int]] = new Encoder[Maybe[Int]] with Decoder[Maybe[Int]] {
    override def apply(a: Maybe[Int]): Json = Encoder.encodeInt.apply(a.getOrElse(0)) // zero if Empty
    override def apply(c: HCursor): Decoder.Result[Maybe[Int]] = Decoder.decodeInt.map(s => Just(s)).apply(c)
}

Eyebrow

Have an upvote, but also see my answer for some details. :) – Blanton

@Travis Brown I was hoping to get some details :) thanks a lot! – Eyebrow