Serialization of nested serializable objects

[alexantenna]

Looks like serializing of annotated object with nested annotated objects via toJson() are not supported or I am completely don't understand how to do it.

Calling method toJson() even for your Person object (which is in your example along with nested Order and Item, code unchanged) fails to include serialized output of nested objects into final output.

Order order1 = new Order()
  ..count = 2
  ..itemNumber = 1
  ..isRushed = true
  ..item = new Item()
  ..itemNumber = 234
  ..isRushed=false;

Person person = new Person('Alexey', 'Kartavenko', new DateTime.now(), orders: <Order>[order1]);
print(person.toJson());

Result:

{firstName: Alexey, lastName: Kartavenko, date-of-birth: 2017-10-07T15:15:11.616592, last-order: null, orders: [Instance of 'Order']}

Looking into generated model code I don't see any attempts to call toJson() method of Order object. Is this by design or am I missing something obvious here?

[alexantenna]

Ah, I see. I need not to call person.toJson() directly but pass person to JSON.encode().

[madisona]

FWIW - I did the same thing and spent some time spinning on this. Might be good to show a little more usage in the readme to prevent others from the same issue.

[SaadArdati]

Ah, I see. I need not to call person.toJson() directly but pass person to JSON.encode().

.... This is so stupid.

[cbatson]

Five years going and still a roadbump. Haven't found the trick yet though. @alexantenna where is JSON.encode() located? I see jsonEncode() and json.encode() but not JSON.encode(). Plus, I want a Map, not a String.

It seems the generated fromJson() handles nesting, but not the generated toJson(). I don't understand why the disparity.

[langhoangal]

JSON.encode().

Stuck for a time on this last year, and this year again :D

[kevmoo]

JSON.encode().

Stuck for a time on this last year, and this year again :D

Just use https://pub.dev/documentation/json_annotation/latest/json_annotation/JsonSerializable/explicitToJson.html