The client's `HttpResponsePipeline` should allow p...

# ktor

[Marc Knaup]

The client's HttpResponsePipeline should allow passing additional info - not just a TypeInfo.
I'd like to pass the KSerializer which should be used for example since it's for a generic type.
The feature or json serializer could then use the additional info to correctly deserialize the response.

[e5l]

Hi @Marc Knaup, could you describe your use case? Maybe you can use attributes instead.

[Marc Knaup]

Hey @e5l,
I've written a small API client for Airtable.

In Airtable, records always have the same structure:

@Serializable
data class AirtableRecord<Fields : Any>(
	val createdTime: Instant,
	val fields: Fields,
	val id: String
)

Fields depends on the actual table you're accessing. Like this for example:

@Serializable
data class TimeTrackingFields(

	@SerialName("Description")
	val description: String,

	@SerialName("Employee ID")
	val employeeId: String,

	@SerialName("End Time")
	val endTime: Instant,

	@SerialName("Planday ID")
	val plandayId: String,

	@SerialName("Start Time")
	val startTime: Instant,

	@SerialName("Sync Time")
	val syncTime: Instant
)

So I can make the API calls generic and type-safe:

suspend inline fun <reified Fields : Any> createRecord(tableName: String, fields: Fields): AirtableRecord<Fields> = …
suspend inline fun <reified Fields : Any> updateRecord(tableName: String, recordId: String, fields: Fields): AirtableRecord<Fields> = …

But in that case the API response (AirtableRecord<Fields>) would require a serializer for a generic type. With TypeInfo I'm not able to get the concrete type of Fields. I only get the TypeVariable.

My solution for now is to avoid JsonFeature and do the parsing & serializing directly in my client.