[Feature request] Attribute similar to `PhpIgnore` but more like "ignore if null"

[mrhappyasthma]

I'm looking to have an object that I'm using as a data model which will eventually be serialized. But I want to mark some fields as ignored, but not PhpIgnore (which skips it unconditionally) but something along the lines of "Ignore, but only if it's null".

For example:

public class MyClass {
    [PhpProperty("Foo")]
    public string Foo {get;set;};
    
    // ... Other stuff
}

If Foo is null, it will serialize along the lines of: s:3:"Foo";N;

I would like this output to be skipped entirely if it is null.

Maybe something like

public class MyClass {
    [PhpProperty("Foo")]
    [PhpIgnoreNull]   // Or similar
    public string Foo {get;set;};
    
    // ... Other stuff
}

[StringEpsilon]

I like this idea, but this might be better implemented as something more generalized.

Perhaps an abstract attribute that allows for custom handling of the raw serialization / deserialization data. I believe JSON.net has something along those lines.

public abstract class PhpSerializationFilter : Attribute {
     public string Serialize(string key, object value)
}

And your specific implementation would be along the lines of:

public class PhpIgnoreNull : PhpSerializationFilter  {
     public string Serialize(string key, object value {
        if (data == null) {
            return null;
        } 
        return PhpSerializer.Serialize(key) + PhpSerializer.Serialize(value);
     }
}

Only pseudo-code to demonstrate the idea. Something similar could be done added to the de-serialization as well.

[mrhappyasthma]

I like the idea of a serialization filter. It gives much more flexibility.

[StringEpsilon]

I've been a bit distracted / busy with other stuff. But I fiddled around a bit just now and made this branch:

https://github.com/StringEpsilon/PhpSerializerNET/tree/SerializationFilter

I'm still not sure what exactly the API should look like and how to make it flexible enough. Ideas? Suggestions?

[mrhappyasthma]

Sorry for the slow reply. I think that's great. The test case covers my specific needs, but it'l be useful to be able to apply generic filters, so I think the Serialize method override should be quite flexible.

[mrhappyasthma]

Any updates on this? Happy to give anything a review if you wanna bounce some ideas off someone.

[StringEpsilon]

No, not really. Sorry about that. I just haven't gotten around to much programming aside from some light refactoring in recent weeks.

[StringEpsilon]

I totally forgot about this feature request. Sorry for the overly long delay. I'm planning to release 2.0 once .NET 9 is out so I can add that to the target frameworks right away. If this feature is still important to you, I may expedite the release.

[StringEpsilon]

Forgot the housekeeping: This is closed with the 2.0.0 release.