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29.

Custom Normalizer: Object-by-Object Dynamic Fields

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We now know how to add dynamic groups: we added admin:read above phoneNumber and then, via our context builder, we're dynamically adding that group to the serialization context if the authenticated user has ROLE_ADMIN.

So... we're pretty cool! We can easily run around and expose input our output fields only to admin users by using these two groups.

But... the context builder - and also the more advanced resource metadata factory - has a tragic flaw! We can only change the context globally. What I mean is, we're deciding which groups should be used for normalizing or denormalizing a specific class... no matter how many different objects we might be working with. It does not allow us to change the groups on an object-by-object basis.

Let me give you a concrete example: in addition to making the $phoneNumber readable by admin users, I now want a user to also be able to read their own phoneNumber: if I make a request and the response will contain data for my own User object, it should include the phoneNumber field.

You might think:

Ok, let's put phoneNumber in some new group, like owner:read... and add that group dynamically in the context builder.

That's great thinking! But... look in the context builder, look at what's passed to the createFromRequest() method... or really, what's not passed: it does not pass us the specific object that's being serialized. Nope, this method is called just once per request.

Creating a Normalizer

Ok, no worries. Context builders are a great way to add or remove groups on a global or class-by-class basis. But they are not the way to dynamically add or remove groups on an object-by-object basis. Nope, for that we need a custom normalizer. Let's convince MakerBundle to create one for us. Run:

php bin/console make:serializer:normalizer

Call this UserNormalizer. When an object is being transformed into JSON, XML or any format, it goes through two steps. First, a "normalizer" transforms the object into an array. And second, an "encoder" transforms that array into whatever format you want - like JSON or XML.

When a User object is serialized, it's already going through a core normalizer that looks at our normalization groups & reads the data via the getter methods. We're now going to hook into that process so that we can change the normalization groups before that core normalizer does its job.

Go check out the new class: src/Serializer/Normalizer/UserNormalizer.php.

37 lines | src/Serializer/Normalizer/UserNormalizer.php
// ... lines 1 - 8
class UserNormalizer implements NormalizerInterface, CacheableSupportsMethodInterface
{
private $normalizer;
public function __construct(ObjectNormalizer $normalizer)
{
$this->normalizer = $normalizer;
}
public function normalize($object, $format = null, array $context = array()): array
{
$data = $this->normalizer->normalize($object, $format, $context);
// Here: add, edit, or delete some data
return $data;
}
public function supportsNormalization($data, $format = null): bool
{
return $data instanceof \App\Entity\BlogPost;
}
public function hasCacheableSupportsMethod(): bool
{
return true;
}
}

This works a bit differently than the context builder - it works more like the voter system. The serializer doesn't have just one normalizer, it has many normalizers. Each time it needs to normalize something, it loops over all the normalizers, calls supportsNormalization() and passes us the data that it needs to normalize. If we return true from supportsNormalization(), it means that we know how to normalize this data. And so, the serializer will call our normalize() method. Our normalizer is then the only normalizer that will be called for this data: we are 100% responsible for transforming the object into an array.

Normalizer Logic

Of course... we don't really want to completely take over the normalization process. What we really want to do is change the normalization groups... and then call the core normalizer so it can do its normal work. That's why the class was generated with a constructor where we're autowiring a class called ObjectNormalizer. This is the main, core, normalizer for objects: it's the one that's responsible for reading the data via our getter methods. So... cool! Our custom normalizer is basically... just offloading all the work to the core normalizer!

Let's start customizing this! For supportsNormalization(), return $data instanceof User. So if the thing that's being normalized is a User object, we handle that.

50 lines | src/Serializer/Normalizer/UserNormalizer.php
// ... lines 1 - 9
class UserNormalizer implements NormalizerInterface, CacheableSupportsMethodInterface
{
// ... lines 12 - 34
public function supportsNormalization($data, $format = null): bool
{
return $data instanceof User;
}
// ... lines 39 - 48
}

Now we know that normalize() will only be called if $object is a User. Let's add some PHPDoc above this to help my editor.

50 lines | src/Serializer/Normalizer/UserNormalizer.php
// ... lines 1 - 18
/**
* @param User $object
*/
public function normalize($object, $format = null, array $context = array()): array
// ... lines 23 - 50

The goal here is to check to see if the User object that's being normalized is the same as the currently-authenticated User. If it is, we'll add that owner:read group. Add that check on top: if $this->userIsOwner($object) - that's a method we'll create in a minute - then, add the group. The $context is passed as the third argument... and we're passing it to the core normalizer below. Let's modify it first! Use $context['groups'][] = 'owner:read.

That's lovely! A normalizer is only used for... um... normalizing an object to an array - it is not used for denormalizing an array back into an object. That's why we're always adding owner:read here. If you wanted to create this same feature for denormalization... and add an owner:write group.. you'll need to create a separate denormalizer class. There's no MakerBundle command to generate it, but the logic will be almost identical to this... and you can even make your one normalizer class implement both NormalizerInterface and DenormalizerInterface.

Oh, also, we don't need to check for the existence of a groups key on the array because, in our system, we are always setting at least one group.

Let's add that missing method: private function userIsOwner(). This will take a User object and return a bool. For now, fake it: return rand(0, 10) > 5.

46 lines | src/Serializer/Normalizer/UserNormalizer.php
// ... lines 1 - 35
private function userIsOwner(User $user): bool
{
return mt_rand(0, 10) > 5;
}
// ... lines 40 - 46

And... I think that's it! Like with voters, this is a situation where we don't need to add any configuration: as soon as we create a class and make it implement NormalizerInterface, the serializer will see it and start using it.

So... let's take this for a test drive! Back on the docs, I'm currently not logged in. Let's refresh the page... and create a new user. How about email goudadude@example.com, password foo, same username, no cheeseListings, but with a phoneNumber. Execute and... perfect! A 201 status code. Copy that email... go back to the homepage.. and log in: goudadude@example.com, password foo and... go!

Cool! Now that we're authenticated, head back to /api. Yep, the web debug toolbar confirms that I'm a "gouda dude". Let's try the GET operation to fetch a collection of users. Because of our random logic, I'd expect some results to show the phoneNumber and some not. Execute and... hey! The first user has a phoneNumber field! It's null... because apparently we didn't set a phoneNumber for that user, but the field is there. And, thanks to the randomness, there is no phoneNumber for the second and third users.

Tip

If you start a new API Platform project, instead of seeing phoneNumber: null, the field is missing. This is due to a change in API Platform 2.5: if your resource supports the PATCH operation (which is on by default in 2.5), then null fields are "omitted". It's no big deal - just don't let it surprise you!

If you try the operation again... yes! This time the first and second users have that field, but not the third. Hey! We're now dynamically adding the owner:read group on an object-by-object basis! Normalizers rock!

But... wait a second. Something is wrong! We're missing the JSON-LD fields for these users. Well, ok, we have them on the top-level for the collection itself... and even the embedded CheeseListing data has them... but each user is missing @id and @type. Something in our new normalizer killed the JSON-LD stuff!

Next, let's figure out what's going on, find this bug, then crush it!