Feature: to_string(const json& j);

[DELTA37]

It is very helpful to add method to_string(const json& j);

[theodelrieu]

Agreed, would you like to open a PR? This one seems quite easy to implement :)

[nlohmann]

What would be the expected result? dump()?

[theodelrieu]

That's what I would expect, do you agree @DELTA37?

[cronnosli]

I guess that .dump() is already enough, unless the intent is to replace .dump()!

[theodelrieu]

The use-case I see would be something like the following:

// in some generic code
template <typename T>
void doStuff(T const& value) {
    using std::to_string;
    
    auto const str = to_string(value);
    // process the string
}

Other than that, I agree that dump() is pretty much enough.

[DELTA37]

Yes, i guess to add "to_string()" method which will do the same as dump()
It is a standard method to extend std::to_string for user-defined class
And it is very helpful to do it with json

That is a discussion https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33399594/making-a-user-defined-class-stdto-stringable

// Sorry for my English

[DELTA37]

#918
Attach pull request

[Macr0Nerd]

@nlohmann is this still available? It doesn't seem terribly important but it was marked as good first issue so :)

[nlohmann]

@Macr0Nerd Yes, it is! There were open issues in PR #918, so this issue was never fixed.

[Macr0Nerd]

Alright! So @nlohmann all I need to is read a function that takes the JSON key, and pulls a deserializes the data into a key, correct? I’m still relatively green to C++ but I’ll give this my best!

[nlohmann]

No, a json value is given and to_string should return its serialization.

[Macr0Nerd]

I think i see what you want (and based on the previous responses). It seems that you want to add an argument dependent lookup like this comment from the SO post from above. As it wasn't requested, I wouldn't overload the << operator but is this what you want @nlohmann?

I also apologize if I ask too many questions, I'm just of the mentality that it should be done right the first time (for the most part)

[Macr0Nerd]

@nlohmann I believe I understand the purpose of this feature. It seems as if though the logic (and code) of dump would do the job here. I want to know if this is alright and what you want/expect

[Macr0Nerd]

Well for lack of understanding and the fear of messing up a very useful product, I will be removing myself from this problem @nlohmann

[nlohmann]

Basically look at https://github.com/nlohmann/json/pull/918/files and follow the comments.

[Macr0Nerd]

@nlohmann I put to_string in the nlohmann namespace as thats how the ADL for overwriting to_string works, but I saw that there needed to be some unit testing. Which file would I put the tests in? So far I've been putting it in unit-serialization after SECTION("dump").

[nlohmann]

Closed by merging #1585.