[Serializer] Document the encoders

components/index.rst

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ The Components
     property_access/index
     routing/index
     security/index
-    serializer
+    serializer/index
     stopwatch
     templating/index
     translation/index

components/map.rst.inc

@@ -140,9 +140,10 @@
   * :doc:`/components/security/authorization`
   * :doc:`/components/security/secure_tools`
 
-* **Serializer**
+* :doc:`/components/serializer/index`
 
-  * :doc:`/components/serializer`
+  * :doc:`/components/serializer/introduction`
+  * :doc:`/components/serializer/encoders`
 
 * **Stopwatch**
 

components/serializer/encoders.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+.. index::
+   single: Serializer, Encoders
+
+Encoders
+========
+
+Encoders basically turn **arrays** into **formats** and vice versa.
+They implement
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\EncoderInterface` for
+encoding (array to format) and
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\DecoderInterface` for
+decoding (format to array).
+
+You can add new encoders to a Serializer instance by using its second constructor argument::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
+    use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\XmlEncoder;
+    use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
+
+    $encoders = array(new XmlEncoder(), new JsonEncoder());
+    $serializer = new Serializer(array(), $encoders);
+
+Built-in Encoders
+-----------------
+
+Two encoders are used in the example above:
+
+* :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\XmlEncoder` to encode/decode XML
+* :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\JsonEncoder` to encode/decode JSON
+
+The ``XmlEncoder``
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This encoder transforms arrays into XML and vice versa.
+
+For example, take an object normalized as following::
+
+    array('foo' => array(1, 2), 'bar' => true);
+
+The ``XmlEncoder`` will encode this object like that::
+
+    <?xml version="1.0"?>
+    <response>
+        <foo>1</foo>
+        <foo>2</foo>
+        <bar>1</bar>
+    </response>
+
+Be aware that this encoder will consider keys beginning with ``@`` as attributes::
+
+    $encoder = new XmlEncoder();
+    $encoder->encode(array('foo' => array('@bar' => 'value')));
+    // will return:
+    // <?xml version="1.0"?>
+    // <response>
+    //     <foo bar="value" />
+    // </response>
+
+The ``JsonEncoder``
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The ``JsonEncoder`` is much simpler and is based on the PHP
+:phpfunction:`json_encode` and :phpfunction:`json_decode` functions.

components/serializer/index.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Serializer
+==========
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    introduction
+    encoders

components/serializer.rst → components/serializer/introduction.rst

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Usage
 
 Using the Serializer component is really simple. You just need to set up
 the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Serializer` specifying
-which Encoders and Normalizer are going to be available::
+which encoders and normalizers are going to be available::
 
     use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
     use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\XmlEncoder;
@@ -57,10 +57,14 @@ which Encoders and Normalizer are going to be available::
     $serializer = new Serializer($normalizers, $encoders);
 
 The preferred normalizer is the
-:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\ObjectNormalizer`, but other
-normalizers are available.
-To read more about them, refer to the `Normalizers`_ section of this page. All
-the examples shown below use the ``ObjectNormalizer``.
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\ObjectNormalizer`,
+but other normalizers are available. All the examples shown below use
+the ``ObjectNormalizer``.
+
+.. seealso::
+
+    Read the dedicated sections to learn more about :doc:`/components/serializer/encoders`
+    and `Normalizers`_.
 
 Serializing an Object
 ---------------------

cookbook/index.rst

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The Cookbook
     request/index
     routing/index
     security/index
-    serializer
+    serializer/index
     service_container/index
     session/index
     symfony1

cookbook/map.rst.inc

@@ -187,9 +187,10 @@
   * :doc:`/cookbook/security/securing_services`
   * :doc:`/cookbook/security/access_control`
 
-* **Serializer**
+* :doc:`/cookbook/serializer/index`
 
-  * :doc:`/cookbook/serializer`
+  * :doc:`/cookbook/serializer/introduction`
+  * :doc:`/cookbook/serializer/custom_encoders`
 
 * :doc:`/cookbook/service_container/index`
 

cookbook/serializer/custom_encoders.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+.. index::
+   single: Serializer; Custom encoders
+
+How to Create your Custom Encoder
+=================================
+
+The :doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer/index>` uses Normalizers
+to transform any data to an array that can be then converted in whatever
+data-structured language you want thanks to Encoders.
+
+The Component provides several built-in encoders that are described
+:doc:`in their own section </components/serializer/encoders>` but you may want
+to use another language not supported.
+
+Creating a new encoder
+----------------------
+
+Imagine you want to serialize and deserialize Yaml. For that you'll have to
+create your own encoder that may use the
+:doc:`Yaml Component </components/yaml/index>`::
+
+    namespace AppBundle\Encoder;
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\DecoderInterface;
+    use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\EncoderInterface;
+    use Symfony\Component\Yaml\Yaml;
+
+    class YamlEncoder implements EncoderInterface, DecoderInterface
+    {
+        public function encode($data, $format, array $context = array())
+        {
+            return Yaml::dump($data);
+        }
+
+        public function supportsEncoding($format)
+        {
+            return 'yaml' === $format;
+        }
+
+        public function decode($data, $format, array $context = array())
+        {
+            return Yaml::parse($data);
+        }
+
+        public function supportsDecoding($format)
+        {
+            return 'yaml' === $format;
+        }
+    }
+
+Registering it in your app
+--------------------------
+
+If you use the Symfony Framework then you probably want to register this encoder
+as a service in your app. Then you only need to tag it as `serializer.encoder` and it will be
+injected in the Serializer.
+
+.. configuration-block::
+
+    .. code-block:: yaml
+
+        # app/config/services.yml
+        services:
+            app.encoder.yaml:
+                class: AppBundle\Encoder\YamlEncoder
+                tags:
+                    - { name: serializer.encoder }
+
+    .. code-block:: xml
+
+        <!-- app/config/services.xml -->
+        <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+        <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
+            xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+            xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">
+
+            <services>
+                <service id="app.encoder.yaml" class="AppBundle\Encoder\YamlEncoder">
+                    <tag name="serializer.encoder" />
+                </service>
+            </services>
+        </container>
+
+    .. code-block:: php
+
+        // app/config/services.php
+        $container
+            ->register(
+                'app.encoder.yaml',
+                'AppBundle\Encoder\YamlEncoder'
+            )
+            ->addTag('serializer.encoder')
+        ;
+
+Now you'll be able to serialize and deserialize Yaml!
+
+.. _tracker: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/issues

cookbook/serializer/index.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Serializer
+==========
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    introduction
+    custom_encoders

cookbook/serializer.rst → cookbook/serializer/introduction.rst

@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 .. index::
-   single: Serializer
+   single: Serializer; Introduction
 
 How to Use the Serializer
 =========================
 
 Serializing and deserializing to and from objects and different formats (e.g.
 JSON or XML) is a very complex topic. Symfony comes with a
-:doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer>`, which gives you some
+:doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer/index>`, which gives you some
 tools that you can leverage for your solution.
 
 In fact, before you start, get familiar with the serializer, normalizers
-and encoders by reading the :doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer>`.
+and encoders by reading the :doc:`Serializer Component </components/serializer/index>`.
 
 Activating the Serializer
 -------------------------

redirection_map

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 /cookbook/email /cookbook/email/email
 /cookbook/gmail /cookbook/email/gmail
 /cookbook/console /components/console
+/cookbook/serializer /cookbook/serializer/introduction
 /cookbook/tools/autoloader /components/class_loader
 /cookbook/tools/finder /components/finder
 /cookbook/service_container/parentservices /components/dependency_injection/parentservices
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@
 /components/yaml /components/yaml/introduction
 /components/templating /components/templating/introduction
 /components/filesystem /components/filesystem/introduction
+/components/serializer /components/serializer/introduction
 /cmf/reference/configuration/block /cmf/bundles/block/configuration
 /cmf/reference/configuration/content /cmf/bundles/content/configuration
 /cmf/reference/configuration/core /cmf/bundles/core/configuration

reference/dic_tags.rst

@@ -946,7 +946,7 @@ serializer.encoder
 The class that's tagged should implement the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\EncoderInterface`
 and :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Encoder\\DecoderInterface`.
 
-For more details, see :doc:`/cookbook/serializer`.
+For more details, see :doc:`/cookbook/serializer/introduction`.
 
 .. _reference-dic-tags-serializer-normalizer:
 
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ serializer.normalizer
 The class that's tagged should implement the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\NormalizerInterface`
 and :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\DenormalizerInterface`.
 
-For more details, see :doc:`/cookbook/serializer`.
+For more details, see :doc:`/cookbook/serializer/introduction`.
 
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