JMSSerializerBundle. no control over third party meta data

Question

I have two entities I wish to serialize with the JMSSerializerBundle. The Music Entity has a mapping-file with exclusion_policy: NONE.

The Music entity has a field of the entity User from FOSUserBundle. The User entity has a mapping-file with exclusion_policy: ALL with a few fields set to expose: true, so they will be serialized.

The problem is, the User field gets fully serialized. It does not matter if I change the mapping-file of the User entity.

This is how it looks:

#My/Bundle/Resources/config/serializer/Entity.Music.yml
xxx\xxx\Entity\Music:
    exclusion_policy: NONE

#My/Bundle/Resources/config/serializer/Entity.User.yml
xxx\xxx\Entity\User:
    exclusion_policy: ALL
    properties:
        id:
            expose: true
        username:
            expose: true
        username_canonical:
            exclude: true
        email:
            exclude: true
        email_canonical:
            exclude: true
        enabled:
            exclude: true
        salt:
            exclude: true
        password:
            exclude: true
        last_login:
            exclude: true
        confirmation_token:
            exclude: true
        password_requested_at:
            exclude: true
        groups:
            exclude: true
        locked:
            exclude: true
        expired:
            exclude: true
        expires_at:
            exclude: true
        roles:
            expose: true
        credentials_expired:
            exclude: true
        credentials_expired_at:
            exclude: true

Why does it not refer to it's own mapping file? Or am I mistaken somewhere?

What have I tried thusfar

I have read the third party meta data documentation. It simply says to add a new directory in my serializer service. I have done that, but I have to extend the FOS\UserBundle\Entity class, and that also does not have access to the parent protected fields I'm trying to exclude.

Attenborough

Answer 1

I bet xxx\xxx\Entity\User: refers to your own namespace and class.

If it is, it is the wrong way to do.

The rules must be applied to the class where the properties live.

Given the property you exposed in your configuration, I guess you're using FOSUserBundle.

Therefore, you must apply your rules on FOS\UserBundle\Model\User.

Then you need to add a JMSSerializer config to indicate where the serializer metadata live for the given namespace.

It should look like:

jms_serializer:
  metadata:
    auto_detection: true
    directories:
      FOSUserBundle:
        namespace_prefix: "FOS\\UserBundle"
        path: "@YourUserBundle/Resources/config/serializer/fos"

In fos/ directory you should have Model.User.yml

With something like:

FOS\UserBundle\Model\User:
  exclusion_policy: ALL
  properties:
    id:
      expose: true
      groups: [list, details]
    username:
      expose: true
      groups: [details]
    email:
      expose: true
      groups: [me]
    roles:
      expose: true
      groups: [details]

---

Details:

When applying rules to the Serializer through metadata, the Serializer looks for the property which are declared inside the class which is defined in the Metadata.

Example:

class Foo {
     protected $foo;
}

class Bar extends Foo {
     protected $bar;
}

Your metadata will look like this:

Foo:
  exclusion_policy: ALL
  properties:
      foo: 
          expose: true

Bar:
  exclusion_policy: ALL
  properties:
      bar: 
          expose: true

THE EXAMPLE BELOW IS NOT THE CORRECT WAY TO DO

Bar:
  exclusion_policy: ALL
  properties:
      foo: 
          expose: true
      bar: 
          expose: true

if you do this, only the rules on the property bar will be applied (and exposed).

Polygnotus

So I can remove the mapping for MyBundle/Entity/User which extends FOSUserBundle/Entity/User? – Attenborough

well, it depends, you need to remove it only if you're not trying to apply rules on property of your own. If you extended the User Model/Entity and added properties, you should keep it but include only the property which are defined your own User class. – Worldbeater

@Attenborough yeah most likely for every modification you make to the metadata. – Worldbeater

Let me do your modifications, and if it works I'll accept it for my question. – Attenborough

Sorry to raise the specter of this question and answer, but I'm noticing that directories and auto_detection don't appear to work together. If I try to override the location where JMS looks for the third-party metadata, it won't apply it. But if I place that same metadata in the default/expected path and comment out the directory configuration in jms_serializer it does get applied. I'm assuming the two should work in tandem? – Daimyo

Why couldnt this information just be included in the official docs.... took me to long to find this – Mesa

@Chris, feel free to make a PR ;) – Worldbeater

If I use this, do I have to change all my annotations to yaml configurations as well? – Voluminous

I was having problems excluding properties from FOS\UserBundle\Model\User and finally I discovered you should define the properties as it is defined in User class. So $plainPassword and others should be defined in the yml using camelCase as well. – Casanova

Answer 2

I had this problem that I was getting the serializer in a wrong way. You need JMSSerializerBundle and use the service for configuration to take effect.

So instead of:

//In controller we can use $this instead of $container
$serializer = $this->get('jms_serializer'); //JMSSerializerBundle

I used:

$serializer = SerializerBuilder::create()->build(); //JMSSerializer

Using the first way will load your configuration. Since I'm using Propel, I needed to ignore all BaseObject fields:

#app/config.yml
jms_serializer:
metadata:
    auto_detection: true
    directories:
        Propel:
            namespace_prefix: ""
            path: "@MySupporterBundle/Resources/config/serializer"

Note that BaseObject has no namespace and you need the following packages for this to work (bugged before metadata 1.2):

        "jms/serializer": "0.12.*",
        "jms/serializer-bundle" : "0.12.*@dev",
        "jms/metadata" : "1.3.*",

So I made this file:

#My/SupporterBundle/Resources/config/serializer/BaseObject.yml
BaseObject:
    exclusion_policy: ALL

and for specific objects(in Model namespace) you need files (with default namespace as My/OtherBundle):

My/OtherBundle/Resources/config/serializer/Model.om.BaseClass.yml My/OtherBundle/Resources/config/serializer/Model.Class.yml

Note: You need to clear cache when creating new serializer files

Burrton