Runtime Library

Runtime Library

Generated Delphi DTOs use units from Runtime. Include the required runtime units in the application's search path or copy them beside the generated unit. Demo-project generation performs this packaging automatically.

Primary API: TJsonDTO

All generated root and object DTOs derive from TJsonDTO.

var
  Customer: TCustomerDTO;
begin
  Customer := TCustomerDTO.Create;
  try
    Customer.AsJson := JsonText; // deserialize
    JsonText := Customer.AsJson; // serialize
  finally
    Customer.Free;
  end;
end;

TJsonDTO configures Delphi REST JSON serialization for ISO-8601 UTC dates. ToString returns AsJson, and Clone<T> creates a deep logical copy by serializing and loading a new DTO instance.

Collections

TArrayMapper bridges dynamic arrays used internally by Delphi's serializer and the TList<T>/TObjectList<T> API exposed by generated classes. GenericListReflectAttribute resolves the matching published property via RTTI so serialization emits collection elements instead of implementation fields.

Object lists own their objects where generated code requires ownership. Do not manually free an item that remains owned by its TObjectList<T>.

Matrices

JsonToDelphi.Runtime.Matrix defines:

• TMatrix<T> for two-dimensional scalar values;
• TObjectMatrix<T> for two-dimensional object values.

Both own their row lists. TObjectMatrix<T> also owns each object in those rows. TJsonDTO.LoadObjectMatrix and SaveObjectMatrix provide explicit mapping because Delphi's default REST serializer cannot reliably round-trip nested object collections directly.

Attributes and helpers

• JsonToDelphi.Runtime.JSONName maps a Delphi member to its original JSON property name.
• [SuppressZero] writes an empty value for a zero TDateTime and restores it on input.
• JsonToDelphi.Runtime.JsonValueHelper classifies Delphi TJSONValue instances for the generator and compatibility code.
• JsonToDelphi.Runtime.JSONConverter supplies JSON formatting/minification and BSON-related GUI output.
• JsonToDelphi.Runtime.Threading and utility units support application-level operations.

Compatibility code

JsonToDelphi.Runtime.Mapper, StubField, SubTypes, ReservedWords, and related units contain the historical mapper surface used by compatibility paths. New generation work should use Generator LIB/Core and a language backend instead of adding new inference logic to the legacy mapper.