I'm looking for a way to serialize a specific clas...

# serialization

[Fudge]

I'm looking for a way to serialize a specific class using a specific method in my NamedValueEncoder / NamedValueDecoder.

class MyClass {
   /**  **/
}

Doing that in a ElementValueEncoder is simple enough :

class MyEncoder : ElementValueEncoder(){
    fun encodeMyClass(obj : MyClass){
         /** **/
     } 
}
// And then in serializer...
@Serializer(forClass = MyClass)
object MyClassSerializer : KSerializer<MyClass> {
      override fun serialize(encoder: Encoder, obj: MyClass) {
        if(encoder is MyEncoder){
            encoder.encodeMyClass(obj)
        }
        else error("not supported")
    }  
}

However, I cannot see how I can do the same thing in a NamedValueEncoder, as it requires a tag, which I don't know how to generate.

class MyTaggedEncoder : NamedValueEncoder(){
    fun encodeTaggedMyClass(tag: String, obj : MyClass){
         /** **/
     } 
}
// And then in serializer...
@Serializer(forClass = MyClass)
object MyClassSerializer : KSerializer<MyClass> {
      override fun serialize(encoder: Encoder, obj: MyClass) {
        if(encoder is MyTaggedEncoder){
            encoder.TaggedMyClass( ??????,      obj)
        }
        else error("not supported")
    }  
}

I don't have access to the methods that generate the tag, to be used in the area marked as "?????", as they are private in NamedValueEncoder. There are also no methods that allow Any class to be encoded in NamedValueEncoder (of which I don't need to provide a tag myself to) . So how can I encode / decode a tagged MyClass in this situtation?

[sandwwraith]

You want to create encoder with custom support for MyClass? I think the right way to do it would be to check instance/class descriptor in the encodeSerializableValue function: https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlinx.serialization/blob/master/runtime/commonMain/src/kotlinx/serialization/protobuf/ProtoBuf.kt#L61

[Fudge]

I'll try that, thanks