[Serializer] Handle circular references. symfony/symfony#12098.

Author: dunglas

components/serializer.rst

@@ -238,14 +238,107 @@ When serializing, you can set a callback to format a specific object property::
     $serializer->serialize($person, 'json');
     // Output: {"name":"cordoval", "age": 34, "createdAt": "2014-03-22T09:43:12-0500"}
 
+Handling Circular References
+----------------------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 2.6
+    Handling of circular references was introduced in Symfony 2.6. In previous versions of Symfony, circular references
+    lead to infinite loops.
+
+Circular references are common when dealing with entities relations::
+
+    class Organization
+    {
+        private $name;
+        private $members;
+
+        public function setName($name)
+        {
+            $this->name = $name;
+        }
+
+        public function getName()
+        {
+            return $this->name;
+        }
+
+        public function setMembers(array $members)
+        {
+            $this->members = $members;
+        }
+
+        public function getMembers()
+        {
+            return $this->members;
+        }
+    }
+
+    class Member
+    {
+        private $name;
+        private $organization;
+
+        public function setName($name)
+        {
+            $this->name = $name;
+        }
+
+        public function getName()
+        {
+            return $this->name;
+        }
+
+        public function setOrganization(Organization $organization)
+        {
+            $this->organization = $organization;
+        }
+
+        public function getOrganization()
+        {
+            return $this->organization;
+        }
+    }
+
+To avoid infinite loops, :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Normalizer\\GetSetMethodNormalizer` throws a
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Exception\\CircularReferenceException` when such case is encountered::
+
+    $member = new Member();
+    $member->setName('Kévin');
+
+    $org = new Organization();
+    $org->setName('Les-Tilleuls.coop');
+    $org->setMembers(array($member));
+
+    $member->setOrganization($kevin);
+
+    echo $serializer->serialize($org, 'json'); // Throws a CircularReferenceException
+
+
+The `setCircularReferenceLimit()` method of this normalizer sets the number of times serializing the same object must
+occur before considering being in a circular reference. Its default value is `1`.
+
+Instead of throwing an exception, circular references can also be handled by custom callables. This is especially useful
+when serializing entities having unique identifiers::
+
+    $encoder = new JsonEncoder();
+    $normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
+
+    $normalizer->setCircularReferenceHandler(function ($object) {
+        return $object->getName();
+    });
+
+    $serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
+    echo $serializer->serialize($org, 'json');
+    // {"name":"Les-Tilleuls.coop","members":[{"name":"K\u00e9vin", organization: "Les-Tilleuls.coop"]}
+
 JMSSerializer
 -------------
 
 A popular third-party library, `JMS serializer`_, provides a more
 sophisticated albeit more complex solution. This library includes the
 ability to configure how your objects should be serialized/deserialized via
 annotations (as well as YAML, XML and PHP), integration with the Doctrine ORM,
-and handling of other complex cases (e.g. circular references).
+and handling of other complex cases.
 
 .. _`JMS serializer`: https://github.com/schmittjoh/serializer
 .. _Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/symfony/serializer