Using Colander to go from Python object to JSON

[Alex Kessinger]

Hi, I have a question about the appropriate use of Colander to go from a python object to JSON

Let's say I have a django model called Person, and a schema called PersonSchema.

Would this be an appropriate way to take a person model to json?

person = Person.objects.get(pk=1)
appstruct = person.to_dict()
cstruct = PersonSchema().serialize(appstruct)
response_body = json.dumps(cstruct)

Is this about right? Should I instead just be going from dict to json?

[Michael Merickel]

Colander is not suitable for serializing to json - its cstruct format is always strings. In my experience the only use of colander's serialization is for use with deform - however it's great for deserializing json to an appstruct. It's been a common complaint over the years but nothing much has been done to sort it out due to bw-compatibility issues.

If I were looking to serialize data to json and validate it, I'd recommend instead converting it to a json-compatible cstruct first, and then validating it (via deserialize) and skip serialize altogether. Alternatively you might look at the marshmallow library instead of colander which probably does a better job of coercing types while serializing.

appstruct = person.to_dict()

if validate(appstruct, PersonSchema()):

    return json.dumps(appstruct)

- Michael

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[Alex Kessinger]

Thanks

On Monday, November 28, 2016 at 2:44:25 PM UTC-7, Michael Merickel wrote:

Colander is not suitable for serializing to json - its cstruct format is always strings. In my experience the only use of colander's serialization is for use with deform - however it's great for deserializing json to an appstruct. It's been a common complaint over the years but nothing much has been done to sort it out due to bw-compatibility issues.

If I were looking to serialize data to json and validate it, I'd recommend instead converting it to a json-compatible cstruct first, and then validating it (via deserialize) and skip serialize altogether. Alternatively you might look at the marshmallow library instead of colander which probably does a better job of coercing types while serializing.

appstruct = person.to_dict()

if validate(appstruct, PersonSchema()):

    return json.dumps(appstruct)

- Michael

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Alex Kessinger <void...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, I have a question about the appropriate use of Colander to go from a python object to JSON

Let's say I have a django model called Person, and a schema called PersonSchema.

Would this be an appropriate way to take a person model to json?

person = Person.objects.get(pk=1)
appstruct = person.to_dict()
cstruct = PersonSchema().serialize(appstruct)
response_body = json.dumps(cstruct)

Is this about right? Should I instead just be going from dict to json?

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