Change default format to produce output that can be passed between isolates

pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart

Index: pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart
diff --git a/pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart b/pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart
index e45a7f0c323f9007945b6e32a8558651b1dd18b1..13a6cbe685231605133f29520468801e9b94b6c1 100644
--- a/pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart
+++ b/pkg/serialization/lib/src/format.dart
@@ -36,26 +36,21 @@ abstract class Format {
 }
 
 /**
- * A format that stores the data in maps which are converted into a JSON
- * string. Note that the maps aren't nested, and it handles cyclic references
- * by converting object references to [Reference] objects. If you want simple
- * acyclic JSON look at [SimpleJsonFormat].
+ * This is the most basic format, which provides the internal representation
+ * of the serialization, exposing the Reference objects.
  */
-class SimpleMapFormat extends Format {
-
-  const SimpleMapFormat();
+class InternalMapFormat extends Format {
+  const InternalMapFormat();
 
   /**
-   * Generate output for this format from [w] and return it as a String which
-   * is the [json] representation of a nested Map structure. The top level has
+   * Generate output for this format from [w] and return it as a nested Map
+   * structure. The top level has
    * 3 fields, "rules" which may hold a definition of the rules used,
    * "data" which holds the serialized data, and "roots", which holds
    * [Reference] objects indicating the root objects. Note that roots are
-   * necessary because the data is organized in the same way as the object
+   * necessary because the data is not organized in the same way as the object
    * structure, it's a list of lists holding self-contained maps which only
    * refer to other parts via [Reference] objects.
-   * This effectively defines a custom JSON serialization format, although
-   * the details of the format vary depending which rules were used.
    */
   Map<String, dynamic> generateOutput(Writer w) {
     var result = {
@@ -67,7 +62,7 @@ class SimpleMapFormat extends Format {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Read a [json] compatible representation of serialized data in this format
+   * Read serialized data written from this format
    * and return the nested Map representation described in [generateOutput]. If
    * the data also includes rule definitions, then these will replace the rules
    * in the [Serialization] for [reader].
@@ -75,6 +70,94 @@ class SimpleMapFormat extends Format {
   Map<String, dynamic> read(topLevel, Reader reader) {
     var ruleString = topLevel["rules"];
     reader.readRules(ruleString);
+    reader._data = topLevel["data"];
+    topLevel["roots"] = topLevel["roots"];
+    return topLevel;
+  }
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * A format that stores the data in maps which can be converted into a JSON
+ * string or passed through an isolate. Note that this consists of maps, but
+ * that they don't follow the original object structure or look like the nested
+ * maps of a [json] representation. They are flat, and [Reference] objects
+ * are converted into a map form that will not make sense to
+ * anything but this format. For simple acyclic JSON that other programs
+ * can read, use [SimpleJsonFormat]. This is the default format, and is
+ * easier to read than the more efficient [SimpleFlatFormat].
+ */
+class SimpleMapFormat extends InternalMapFormat {
+
+  const SimpleMapFormat();
+
+  /**
+   * Generate output for this format from [w] and return it as a String which
+   * is the [json] representation of a nested Map structure. The top level has
+   * 3 fields, "rules" which may hold a definition of the rules used,
+   * "data" which holds the serialized data, and "roots", which holds
+   * [Reference] objects indicating the root objects. Note that roots are
+   * necessary because the data is not organized in the same way as the object
+   * structure, it's a list of lists holding self-contained maps which only
+   * refer to other parts via [Reference] objects.
+   * This effectively defines a custom JSON serialization format, although
+   * the details of the format vary depending which rules were used.
+   */
+  Map<String, dynamic> generateOutput(Writer w) {
+    forAllStates(w, (x) => x is Reference, referenceToMap);
+    var result = super.generateOutput(w);
+    result["roots"] = result["roots"].map(
+        (x) => x is Reference ? referenceToMap(x) : x).toList();
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Convert the data generated by the rules to have maps with the fields
+   * of [Reference] objects instead of the [Reference] so that the structure
+   * can be serialized between isolates and json easily.
+   */
+  forAllStates(ReaderOrWriter w, Function predicate, Function transform) {

[Jennifer Messerly, 2013/05/14 00:21:39]

more precise types for the function args?

e.g. 

  "bool predicate(item), transform(item)"

another idea, could declare these via typedefs

+    for (var eachRule in w.rules) {
+      var ruleData = w.states[eachRule.number];
+      for (var data in ruleData) {
+        keysAndValues(data).forEach((key, value) {
+            if (predicate(value)) {

[Jennifer Messerly, 2013/05/14 00:21:39]

-2 indent here. Since it's a function, usually is nice to pretend it's a block,
that way "for (x in items) { ... }" and "items.forEach((x) { ... });" have same
level of indent for their bodies.

+              data[key] = transform(value);
+            }
+        });
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  /** Convert the reference to a [json] serializable form. */
+  Map<String, int> referenceToMap(Reference ref) => ref == null ? null :
+    {
+      "__Ref" : 0,
+      "rule" : ref.ruleNumber,
+      "object" : ref.objectNumber
+    };
+
+  /**
+   * Convert the [referenceToMap] form for a reference back to a [Reference]
+   * object.
+   */
+  Reference mapToReference(ReaderOrWriter parent, Map<String, int> ref) =>
+      ref == null ? null : new Reference(parent, ref["rule"], ref["object"]);
+
+  /**
+   * Read serialized data written in this format
+   * and return the nested Map representation described in [generateOutput]. If
+   * the data also includes rule definitions, then these will replace the rules
+   * in the [Serialization] for [reader].
+   */
+  Map<String, dynamic> read(topLevel, Reader reader) {
+    super.read(topLevel, reader);
+    forAllStates(reader,
+        (ref) => ref is Map && ref["__Ref"] != null,
+        (ref) => mapToReference(reader, ref));
+    topLevel["roots"] = topLevel["roots"]
+        .map((x) => x is Map<String, int> ? mapToReference(reader, x) : x)
+        .toList();
     return topLevel;
   }
 }
@@ -90,7 +173,7 @@ class SimpleMapFormat extends Format {
  * If the [storeRoundTripInfo] field of the format is set to true, then this
  * will store the rule number along with the data, allowing reconstruction.
  */
-class SimpleJsonFormat extends Format {
+class SimpleJsonFormat extends SimpleMapFormat {
 
   /**
    * Indicate if we should store rule numbers with map/list data so that we