NAME
    Object::Serializer - General Purpose Object Serializer

VERSION
    version 0.000007

SYNOPSIS
        package Point;

        use Moo;
        use parent 'Object::Serializer';

        has 'x' => (is => 'rw');
        has 'y' => (is => 'rw');

        package main;

        my $p = Point->new(x => 10, y => 10);

        # serialize the class into a hash
        my $p1 = $p->serialize; # returns { __CLASS__ => 'Point', x => 10, y => 10 }

        # deserialize the hash into a class
        my $p2 = $p->deserialize($p1);

DESCRIPTION
    Getting objects into an ideal format for passing representations in and
    out of applications can be a real pain. Object::Serializer is a fast and
    simple pure-perl framework-agnostic type-less none-opinionated
    light-weight primitive general purpose object serializer which tries to
    help make object serialization easier. Note, this module should be
    considered experimental though I don't anticipate the interface will
    change much.

METHODS
  serialize
    The serialize method expects an object and returns a serialized
    (hashified) version of that object.

        my $hash = $self->serialize;
        my $hash = $self->serialize($object);
        my $hash = $self->serialize($object, marker => 0); # without any marker
        my $hash = $self->serialize($object, marker => '@'); # with @ as the marker

  deserialize
    The deserialize method expects an object and returns a deserialized
    (objectified) version of that object.

        my $object = $self->deserialize($object);
        my $hash = $self->serialize($object, marker => '@'); # with @ as the marker

  serialization_strategy_for
    The serialization_strategy_for method expects a reftype and a list of
    key/value pairs having the keys expand and/or collapse. This method
    registers a custom serialization strategy to be used during the
    expanding and/or collapsing of specific reference types.

        CLASS->serialization_strategy_for(
            REFTYPE => (
                expand   => sub { ... },
                collapse => sub { ... }
            )
        );

EXTENSION
    Object::Serializer can be used as a serializer independently, however,
    it is primarily designed to be used as a base class for your classes or
    roles. By default, Object::Serializer doesn't do anything special for
    you in the way of serialization, however, you can easily hook into the
    serialization process by defining your serialization strategy using your
    own custom serialization routines which will be executed whenever a
    specific reference type is encountered. The following syntax is what you
    might use to register your own custom serialization strategy. This
    example registers a custom serializer that is executed globally whenever
    a DateTime object is found. The expand and collapse coderefs suggest
    what will happen on deserialization and serialization respectively.

        Object::Serializer->serialization_strategy_for(
            DateTime => ( collapse => sub { pop->iso8601 } )
        );

    Additionally, you can register a serialization strategy to be used only
    when invoked by a specific class. The following syntax is what you might
    use to register a serialization strategy to be executed only for a
    specific class:

        Point->serialization_strategy_for(
            DateTime => ( collapse => sub { pop->iso8601 } )
        );

CAVEATS
    Circular references are problematic and should be avoided, you can
    weaken or otherwise handle them yourself then re-assemble them later as
    a means toward getting around this. Blessed objects are made into hashes
    and tagged for deserialization. Tagging blessed references other than
    hashrefs has not yet been implemented. Custom serializers must match the
    object's reftype exactly to be enacted. Extending the serialization
    process with a custom serialization strategy usually means losing the
    ability to recreate (deserialize) the serialized objects, i.e. custom
    serializers will usually be designed to either expand or collapse but
    probably not both.

AUTHOR
    Al Newkirk <anewkirk@ana.io>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2013 by Al Newkirk.

    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

