Serialize and deserialize primitive types

lib/datastore.js

@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 /**
  * The datastore itself
  * TODO
- * Improve serialization (for types such as Dates, handle new lines in strings)
- * Serialization and deserialization functions
  * Queue inserts, removes and updates
  * Update and removes should only modify the corresponding part of the database
  */

lib/model.js

@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@
  * Copying
  */
 
-var dateToJSON = function () { return { $$date: this.toString() }; }
+var dateToJSON = function () { return { $$date: this.getTime() }; }
   , originalDateToJSON = Date.prototype.toJSON
 
-
+/**
+ * Serialize an object to be persisted to a one-line string
+ * Accepted primitive types: Number, String, Boolean, Date, null
+ * Accepted secondary types: Objects, Arrays
+ * TODO: throw an error if variable name begins with '$'
+ */
 function serialize (obj) {
   var res;
 
@@ -27,6 +32,11 @@ function serialize (obj) {
   return res;
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * From a one-line representation of an object generate by the serialize function
+ * Return the object itself
+ */
 function deserialize (rawData) {
   return JSON.parse(rawData, function (k, v) {
     if (k === '$$date') { return new Date(v); }
@@ -39,10 +49,6 @@ function deserialize (rawData) {
 
 
 
-
-
-
 // Interface
 module.exports.serialize = serialize;
 module.exports.deserialize = deserialize;
-

test/model.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+var model = require('../lib/model')
+  , should = require('chai').should()
+  , assert = require('chai').assert
+  , _ = require('underscore')
+  , async = require('async')
+  ;
+
+
+describe('Model', function () {
+
+  describe('Serialization, deserialization', function () {
+
+    it('Can serialize and deserialize strings', function (done) {
+      var a, b, c;
+
+      a = { test: "Some string" };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      c.test.should.equal("Some string");
+
+      // Even if a property is a string containing a new line, the serialized
+      // version doesn't. The new line must still be there upon deserialization
+      a = { test: "With a new\nline" };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      c.test.should.equal("With a new\nline");
+      a.test.indexOf('\n').should.not.equal(-1);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      c.test.indexOf('\n').should.not.equal(-1);
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+    it('Can serialize and deserialize booleans', function (done) {
+      var a, b, c;
+
+      a = { test: true };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      c.test.should.equal(true);
+      c.test.should.not.equal('true');
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+    it('Can serialize and deserialize numbers', function (done) {
+      var a, b, c;
+
+      a = { test: 5 };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      c.test.should.equal(5);
+      c.test.should.not.equal('5');
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+    it('Can serialize and deserialize null', function (done) {
+      var a, b, c;
+
+      a = { test: null };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      assert.isNull(a.test);
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+    it('Can serialize and deserialize a date', function (done) {
+      var a, b, c
+        , d = new Date();
+
+      a = { test: d };
+      b = model.serialize(a);
+      c = model.deserialize(b);
+      b.indexOf('\n').should.equal(-1);
+      c.test.constructor.name.should.equal('Date');
+      c.test.getTime().should.equal(d.getTime());
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+
+  });   // ==== End of 'Serialization, deserialization' ==== //
+
+});