Flolefebvre Serializer

A zero‑boilerplate, attribute‑driven serializer / DTO helper for Laravel 10 & 11
Built for PHP ≥ 8.2 — lighter than 20 KB.

---

Table of Contents

• Why another serializer?
• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick start
• Advanced usage
  • Custom TypeCast
  • Arrays of DTOs
• Performance & Limitations
• Contributing
• License

---

Why another serializer?

flolefebvre/serializer focuses on simplicity and strictness:

• DTOs are just classes extending Serializable.
• Validation occurs before the object exists — no invalid state can persist.
• No generated code or heavy reflection caches; your build stays ultra‑fast.

---

Features

✅ Constructor‑promoted DTOs only	✅ Automatic validation via #[Rule]
✅ Pure attribute configuration	✅ Typed arrays (#[ArrayType])
✅ Laravel DI & Request auto‑binding	✅ Custom type‑casts (TypeCast interface)
✅ Eloquent JSON cast (single / list)	✅ JsonResponse ready to return

---

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• Laravel 10 / 11
• ext-json

---

Installation

composer require flolefebvre/serializer

---

Quick start

Create a DTO:

<?php

namespace App\DTO;

use Flolefebvre\Serializer\Serializable;
use Flolefebvre\Serializer\Attributes\Rule;

class PostData extends Serializable
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $title,
        #[Rule('nullable|string|max:280')]
        public ?string $excerpt,
        #[Rule('required|url')]
        public string $url,
    ) {}
}

Bind it in a route:

use App\DTO\PostData;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::post('/posts', function (PostData $data) {
    // $data is a fully validated DTO.
    // ...
    return $data; // => JsonResponse 201
});

Try it:

curl -X POST http://localhost/api/posts      -H "Content-Type: application/json"      -d '{"title":"Hello","excerpt":null,"url":"https://example.com"}'

Response:

{
  "title": "Hello",
  "excerpt": null,
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "_type": "App\\DTO\\PostData"
}

---

Advanced usage

Custom TypeCast

use Ramsey\Uuid\UuidInterface;
use Flolefebvre\Serializer\Attributes\CastTypeWith;
use Flolefebvre\Serializer\Casts\TypeCast;
use Ramsey\Uuid\Uuid;

class UuidCast implements TypeCast
{
    // How the value will appear once serialized
    public string $serializedType = 'uuid';

    public function serialize(mixed $value): mixed
    {
        return (string) $value;
    }

    public function unserialize(mixed $value): mixed
    {
        return Uuid::fromString($value);
    }
}

class OrderData extends Serializable
{
    public function __construct(
        #[CastTypeWith(UuidCast::class)]
        public UuidInterface $id,
    ) {}
}

Arrays of DTOs

use Flolefebvre\Serializer\Attributes\ArrayType;

class BlogData extends Serializable
{
    public function __construct(
        #[ArrayType(CommentData::class)]
        public array $comments,
    ) {}
}

---

Performance & Limitations

Topic	Notes
Reflection	Metadata is rebuilt on every call → enable OPcache and/or add a static cache for high‑traffic endpoints.
Union/Intersection Types	Not yet supported — contributions welcome.
Polymorphism	The _type field is required for subclasses during deserialization.

---

Contributing

1. Fork & clone
2. composer install && composer test
3. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
4. Push and open a PR
5. Ensure tests pass and follow PSR‑12.

---

License

Released under the MIT License — see LICENSE.