Package de.exlll.configlib

Annotation Interface SerializeWith

@Target({ANNOTATION_TYPE,TYPE,FIELD,RECORD_COMPONENT}) @Retention(RUNTIME) public @interface SerializeWith
Indicates that the annotated configuration element or type should be serialized using an instance of the referenced serializer. The serializer referenced by this annotation is selected regardless of whether the type of configuration element or annotated type matches the type the serializer expects.

If this annotation is applied to a configuration element, and that element is an array, list, set, or map a nesting level can be set to apply the serializer not to the top-level type but to its elements. For maps, the serializer is applied to the values and not the keys.

The following examples show how nesting can be used to apply the serializer to configuration elements at different levels. 

 
 // MyListSerializer is applied to 'list'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyListSerializer.class)
 List<Set<String>> list;

 // MySetSerializer is applied to the Set<String> elements of 'list'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MySetSerializer.class, nesting = 1)
 List<Set<String>> list;

 // MyStringSerializer is applied to the strings within the set elements of 'list'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyStringSerializer.class, nesting = 2)
 List<Set<String>> list;

 // MyMap0Serializer is applied to 'map'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyMap0Serializer.class)
 Map<Integer, Map<String, Double>> map;

 // MyMap1Serializer is applied to the Map<String, Double> values of 'map'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyMap1Serializer.class, nesting = 1)
 Map<Integer, Map<String, Double>> map;

 // MyDoubleSerializer is applied to the doubles within the nested values of 'map'
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyDoubleSerializer.class, nesting = 2)
 Map<Integer, Map<String, Double>> map;

If instead the annotation is applied to a non-generic type, then, whenever that exact type (i.e. not a subtype or implementation) is encountered, the referenced serializer is selected. 

 
 @SerializeWith(serializer = MyClassSerializer.class)
 public final class MyClass { ... }

Similarly, this annotation can be used as a meta-annotation on other ElementType.TYPE annotations. In these cases, the serializer is selected whenever a type annotated with the meta-annotated annotation is found. An example for this is the Polymorphic annotation.

  • Required Element Summary

    Required Elements
    Modifier and Type
    Required Element
    Description
    Class<? extends Serializer>
    serializer
    Returns the type of the serializer to be used.

  • Optional Element Summary

    Optional Elements
    Modifier and Type
    Optional Element
    Description
    int
    nesting
    Returns the nesting level at which to apply the serializer.

  • Element Details

    • serializer

      Class<? extends Serializer> serializer
      Returns the type of the serializer to be used.
      Returns:
      the type of serializer to use

    • nesting

      int nesting
      Returns the nesting level at which to apply the serializer.

      Setting nesting to an invalid value, i.e. a negative one or one that is greater than the number of levels the element actually has, results in the serializer not being selected.

      If this annotation is applied to a type or another annotation, the value returned by this method has no effect.

      Returns:
      the nesting level
      Default:
      0