URL-Encoding Serializers

The UrlEncodingSerializer class is used to serialize POJOs into URL-Encoding.

When to use it

Use UrlEncodingSerializer to build a query string or a form body from a bean or map: each property becomes a name=value pair joined by &, with values written in UON notation. For a REST client that posts a form, the client does this for you; use the serializer directly when you build the string yourself.

Example

import java.util.*;
import org.apache.juneau.marshall.urlencoding.*;

public class UrlEncodingSerializerExample {

    public static class Person {
        public String name = "John Smith";
        public int age = 45;
        public List<Integer> scores = List.of(1, 2);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Person person = new Person();

        System.out.println(UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT.write(person));
        System.out.println(UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT_EXPANDED.write(person));
        System.out.println(UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT_PLAINTEXT.write(person));
    }
}

The three lines are age=45&name='John+Smith'&scores=@(1,2), age=45&name='John+Smith'&scores=1&scores=2 and age=45&name=John+Smith&scores=1,2.

Options

The following pre-configured serializers are provided for convenience:

Instance	Output
`UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT`	UON-style values, URL-encoded.
`UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT_EXPANDED`	Repeats the name for each collection element (`scores=1&scores=2`) instead of one UON array.
`UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT_PLAINTEXT`	Plain values without UON quoting (`name=John+Smith`).
`UrlEncodingSerializer.DEFAULT_READABLE`	One pair per line, for people.

For anything else, start from the builder's create() method. The settings readers reach for first:

Builder method	Effect
`expandedParams()`	Write each collection element as its own `name=value` pair.
`paramFormat(...)` / `paramFormatPlain()`	Write values as UON or as plain text.
`ws()`	Use indentation and newlines.
`keepNullProperties()`	Write bean properties whose value is null.
`trimEmptyCollections()` / `trimEmptyMaps()`	Skip empty collections or maps.
`sortCollections()` / `sortMaps()`	Sort collections or map entries before writing.
`addBeanTypes()`	Add `_type` properties to beans whose runtime type differs from the declared one.