Create an implementation that allows automatically registering the sealed children of a class for polymorphic serialization of a shared (non-sealed) type.

Author: pdvrieze

core/commonMain/src/kotlinx/serialization/SealedSerializer.kt

@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public class SealedClassSerializer<T : Any>(
         }
     }
 
-    private val class2Serializer: Map<KClass<out T>, KSerializer<out T>>
+    internal val class2Serializer: Map<KClass<out T>, KSerializer<out T>>
     private val serialName2Serializer: Map<String, KSerializer<out T>>
 
     init {

core/commonMain/src/kotlinx/serialization/modules/PolymorphicModuleBuilder.kt

@@ -23,6 +23,21 @@ public class PolymorphicModuleBuilder<in Base : Any> @PublishedApi internal cons
     private var defaultSerializerProvider: ((Base) -> SerializationStrategy<Base>?)? = null
     private var defaultDeserializerProvider: ((String?) -> DeserializationStrategy<Base>?)? = null
 
+    /**
+     * Registers the subclasses of the given class as subclasses of the outer class. Currently this requires `baseClass`
+     * to be sealed.
+     */
+    public fun <T: Base> subclassesOf(baseClass: KClass<T>, serializer: KSerializer<T>) {
+        require(serializer is SealedClassSerializer) {
+            "subClassesOf only supports automatic adding of subclasses of sealed types."
+        }
+        for ((subsubclass, subserializer) in serializer.class2Serializer.entries) {
+            @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
+            // We don't know the type here, but it matches if correct in the sealed serializer.
+            subclass(subsubclass as KClass<T>, subserializer as KSerializer<T>)
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Registers a [subclass] [serializer] in the resulting module under the [base class][Base].
      */
@@ -116,3 +131,15 @@ public inline fun <Base : Any, reified T : Base> PolymorphicModuleBuilder<Base>.
  */
 public inline fun <Base : Any, reified T : Base> PolymorphicModuleBuilder<Base>.subclass(clazz: KClass<T>): Unit =
     subclass(clazz, serializer())
+
+/**
+ * Registers the child serializers for the sealed [subclass] [serializer] in the resulting module under the [base class][Base].
+ */
+public inline fun <Base : Any, reified T : Base> PolymorphicModuleBuilder<Base>.subclassesOf(serializer: KSerializer<T>): Unit =
+    subclassesOf(T::class, serializer)
+
+/**
+ * Registers the child serializers for the sealed class [T] in the resulting module under the [base class][Base].
+ */
+public inline fun <Base : Any, reified T : Base> PolymorphicModuleBuilder<Base>.subclassesOf(clazz: KClass<T>): Unit =
+    subclassesOf(clazz, serializer())

docs/polymorphism.md

@@ -410,6 +410,11 @@ fun main() {
 
 > Note: On Kotlin/Native, you should use `format.encodeToString(PolymorphicSerializer(Project::class), data))` instead due to limited reflection capabilities.
 
+### Registering sealed children as subclasses
+A sealed parent interface or class can be used to directly register all its children using subclassesOf. This will
+expose all children that would be available when serializing the parent directly, but now as sealed. Please note that
+this is will remain open serialization, and the sealed parent serializer will not be used in serialization.
+
 <!--- TEST LINES_START -->
 
 ### Property of an interface type

formats/json-tests/commonTest/src/kotlinx/serialization/features/PolymorphicSealedChildTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017-2019 JetBrains s.r.o. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license.
+ */
+
+package kotlinx.serialization.features
+
+import kotlinx.serialization.*
+import kotlinx.serialization.json.Json
+import kotlinx.serialization.modules.*
+import kotlinx.serialization.test.assertStringFormAndRestored
+import kotlin.test.Test
+
+class PolymorphicSealedChildTest {
+
+    @Serializable
+    data class FooHolder(
+        val someMetadata: Int,
+        val payload: List<@Polymorphic FooBase>
+    )
+
+    @Serializable
+    abstract class FooBase
+
+    @Serializable
+    @SerialName("Foo")
+    sealed class Foo: FooBase() {
+        @Serializable
+        @SerialName("Bar")
+        data class Bar(val bar: Int) : Foo()
+        @Serializable
+        @SerialName("Baz")
+        data class Baz(val baz: String) : Foo()
+    }
+
+    val sealedModule = SerializersModule {
+        polymorphic(FooBase::class) {
+            subclassesOf(Foo.serializer())
+        }
+    }
+
+    val json = Json { serializersModule = sealedModule }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testSaveSealedClassesList() {
+        assertStringFormAndRestored(
+            """{"someMetadata":42,"payload":[
+            |{"type":"Bar","bar":1},
+            |{"type":"Baz","baz":"2"}]}""".trimMargin().replace("\n", ""),
+            FooHolder(42, listOf(Foo.Bar(1), Foo.Baz("2"))),
+            FooHolder.serializer(),
+            json,
+            printResult = true
+        )
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testCanSerializeSealedClassPolymorphicallyOnTopLevel() {
+        assertStringFormAndRestored(
+            """{"type":"Bar","bar":1}""",
+            Foo.Bar(1),
+            PolymorphicSerializer(FooBase::class),
+            json
+        )
+    }
+}