WIP: Plain json serialization for high level api.

src/linkahead/high_level_api.py

@@ -471,7 +471,6 @@ class CaosDBPythonEntity(object):
 
         if isinstance(att, list):
             return att
-        else:
         return [att]
 
     def add_parent(self, parent: Union[
@@ -679,53 +678,68 @@ class CaosDBPythonEntity(object):
 
         return entity
 
-    def serialize(self, without_metadata: bool = False, visited: dict = None):
-        """
-        Serialize necessary information into a dict.
+    def serialize(self, without_metadata: bool = None, plain_json: bool = False,
+                  visited: dict = None):
+        """Serialize necessary information into a dict.
 
-        without_metadata: bool
+Parameters
+----------
+without_metadata: bool, optional
   If True don't set the metadata field in order to increase
   readability. Not recommended if deserialization is needed.
-        """
+plain_json: bool, optional
+  If True, serialize to a plain dict without any additional information besides the property values,
+  name and id.  This should conform to the format as specified by the json schema generated by the
+  advanced user tools.  This implies ``without_metadata = True``.
+        """
+        if plain_json:
+            if without_metadata is None:
+                without_metadata = True
+            if not without_metadata:
+                raise ValueError("`plain_json` implies `without_metadata`.")
+        if without_metadata is None:
+            without_metadata = False
 
         if visited is None:
-            visited = dict()
+            visited = {}
 
         if self in visited:
             return visited[self]
 
-        metadata: Dict[str, Any] = dict()
-        properties = dict()
-        parents = list()
+        metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+        properties = {}
+        parents = []
 
         # The full information to be returned:
-        fulldict = dict()
+        fulldict = {}
         visited[self] = fulldict
 
-        # Add CaosDB role:
-        fulldict["role"] = standard_type_for_high_level_type(self, True)
-
         for parent in self._parents:
             if isinstance(parent, CaosDBPythonEntity):
-                parents.append(parent.serialize(without_metadata, visited))
+                parents.append(parent.serialize(without_metadata=without_metadata,
+                                                plain_json=plain_json,
+                                                visited=visited))
             elif isinstance(parent, CaosDBPythonUnresolvedParent):
                 parents.append({"name": parent.name, "id": parent.id,
                                 "unresolved": True})
             else:
                 raise RuntimeError("Incompatible class used as parent.")
 
+        if not plain_json:
+            # Add LinkAhead role:
+            fulldict["role"] = standard_type_for_high_level_type(self, True)
             for baseprop in ("name", "id", "description", "version"):
                 val = self.__getattribute__(baseprop)
                 if val is not None:
                     fulldict[baseprop] = val
 
-        if type(self) == CaosDBPythonFile:
+            if isinstance(self, CaosDBPythonFile):
                 fulldict["file"] = self.file
                 fulldict["path"] = self.path
 
         for p in self.get_properties():
             m = self.get_property_metadata(p)
-            metadata[p] = dict()
+            metadata[p] = {}
             for f in fields(m):
                 val = m.__getattribute__(f.name)
                 if val is not None:
@@ -735,28 +749,35 @@ class CaosDBPythonEntity(object):
             if isinstance(val, CaosDBPythonUnresolvedReference):
                 properties[p] = {"id": val.id, "unresolved": True}
             elif isinstance(val, CaosDBPythonEntity):
-                properties[p] = val.serialize(without_metadata, visited)
+                properties[p] = val.serialize(without_metadata=without_metadata,
+                                              plain_json=plain_json,
+                                              visited=visited)
             elif isinstance(val, list):
                 serializedelements = []
                 for element in val:
                     if isinstance(element, CaosDBPythonUnresolvedReference):
-                        elm = dict()
+                        elm = {}
                         elm["id"] = element.id
                         elm["unresolved"] = True
                         serializedelements.append(elm)
                     elif isinstance(element, CaosDBPythonEntity):
                         serializedelements.append(
-                            element.serialize(without_metadata,
-                                              visited))
+                            element.serialize(without_metadata=without_metadata,
+                                              plain_json=plain_json,
+                                              visited=visited))
                     else:
                         serializedelements.append(element)
                 properties[p] = serializedelements
             else:
                 properties[p] = val
 
+        if plain_json:
+            fulldict["id"] = getattr(self, "id")
+            fulldict["name"] = getattr(self, "name")
+            fulldict.update(properties)
+        else:
             fulldict["properties"] = properties
             fulldict["parents"] = parents
-
             if not without_metadata:
                 fulldict["metadata"] = metadata
         return fulldict