sql_serializable

A code generator & runtime library for converting Dart classes to/from SQL.

Getting started

Add this package and build_runner as a dev dependency & one of the runtime packages as a normal dependency:

$ dart pub add -d sql_serializable build_runner
$ dart pub add sql_serializable_postgres

Import the runtime library & annotate the class you want to convert to SQL:

import "package:sql_serializable_postgres/sql_serializable_postgres.dart";

@SqlSerializable()
class MyClass {
    ...
}

Add the generated file as a part and add a static const table field to your class that points to the to-be-generated table. Add a toJson and fromJson method to your class that redirect to the generated functions if you want to easily access them:

import "package:sql_serializable_postgres/sql_serializable_postgres.dart";

part 'my_file.g.dart';

@SqlSerializable()
class MyClass {
    static const table = _$MyClassTable;

    factory MyClass.fromSql(Sql<MyClass> sql) => _$MyClassFromSql(sql);
    Sql<MyClass> toSql() => _$MyClassToSql(this);

    ...
}

Run the build runner:

$ dart run build_runner build

Create a database from one of the runtime packages to insert your models:

void main() async {
    final model = MyClass(...);
    final database = ...;

    final id = await database.insert(model.toSql());
    final fromDatabase = MyClass.fromSql(await database.get(MyClass.table, id));
}

Runtime packages

sql_serializable provides the following packages for interacting with databases at runtime:

• sql_serializable_postgres for PostgreSQL databases.

Why do I need a static const table on my classes?

When a class contains a field that is itself another class annotated with SqlSerializable, sql_serializable needs to know which table represents that class to refer to it in the table definition. If that other class is in a different library than the current one, sql_serializable cannot access the generated _$ClassNameTable for that class, so we require that all classes annotated with SqlSerializable() provide a public getter for the generated table.

It must also be const since all generated table instances are themselves const, so they cannot refer to non-const elements.