JSON to TypeScript class instance?

Question

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Answer 1

This question is quite broad, so I'm going to give a couple of solutions.

Solution 1: Helper Method

Here's an example of using a Helper Method that you could change to fit your needs:

class SerializationHelper {
    static toInstance<T>(obj: T, json: string) : T {
        var jsonObj = JSON.parse(json);

        if (typeof obj["fromJSON"] === "function") {
            obj["fromJSON"](jsonObj);
        }
        else {
            for (var propName in jsonObj) {
                obj[propName] = jsonObj[propName]
            }
        }

        return obj;
    }
}

Then using it:

var json = '{"name": "John Doe"}',
    foo = SerializationHelper.toInstance(new Foo(), json);

foo.GetName() === "John Doe";

Advanced Deserialization

This could also allow for some custom deserialization by adding your own fromJSON method to the class (this works well with how JSON.stringify already uses the toJSON method, as will be shown):

interface IFooSerialized {
    nameSomethingElse: string;
}

class Foo {
  name: string;
  GetName(): string { return this.name }

  toJSON(): IFooSerialized {
      return {
          nameSomethingElse: this.name
      };
  }

  fromJSON(obj: IFooSerialized) {
        this.name = obj.nameSomethingElse;
  }
}

Then using it:

var foo1 = new Foo();
foo1.name = "John Doe";

var json = JSON.stringify(foo1);

json === '{"nameSomethingElse":"John Doe"}';

var foo2 = SerializationHelper.toInstance(new Foo(), json);

foo2.GetName() === "John Doe";

Solution 2: Base Class

Another way you could do this is by creating your own base class:

class Serializable {
    fillFromJSON(json: string) {
        var jsonObj = JSON.parse(json);
        for (var propName in jsonObj) {
            this[propName] = jsonObj[propName]
        }
    }
}

class Foo extends Serializable {
    name: string;
    GetName(): string { return this.name }
}

Then using it:

var foo = new Foo();
foo.fillFromJSON(json);

There's too many different ways to implement a custom deserialization using a base class so I'll leave that up to how you want it.