serializer + before_serializer weird behavior

[mickeyn]

tried to set the ref to be serialized in the before_serializer hook rather than the route handler, didn't work so well.

here's a minimized version to show the problem:
code: http://pastebin.com/5Gg3CSQS
output: http://pastebin.com/wmcFwbaZ

bug?

[xsawyerx]

Nope.

package BUG;
use Dancer2;
set serializer => 'JSON';

hook before_serializer => sub {
    $_[0] = { blah => 'blah' };
};

get '/' => sub {
    print STDERR "do nothing in the route handler\n";
};

[mickeyn]

thanks @xsawyerx ;)

so what happens here is that $content is passed to the hook (undefined value), since @_ is aliasing the same input variable (which is later passed to the serializer) we can set it there.
nice.

[xsawyerx]

@mickeyn++ Thanks for adding an explanation of how it works!

[mickeyn]

ok, checked and this doesn't really work (@xsawyerx - we only checked a generalized function call outside this problem scope).

problem 1:
since the hook is executed through an intermediate execute_hook which copies @_ into @Args and passes it down to the hook code, $_[0] is not an alias to the original $content (that's created in 'around serialize').

(minor) problem 2:
there's a check on $content and it's length, so the route handler has to return a value in any case to reach the hook execution.
(that can potentially be solved by moving the content check till after the hook - so I'm not worried about it).

I'm not blocked by this, solved my problem with a completely different approach, but this still bugs me :)

though I agree this is not a bug, it's still an open question -
how can I replace the content sent to the serializer after the route handler has run?
(I do believe the proper place should be the 'before_serializer' hook)

[xsawyerx]

@mickeyn Is this fixed by #1053?

[xsawyerx]

I guess so. :)