This is a document that summarizes how value class is handled in kotlin-module.

Annotation assigned to a property (parameter)

In Kotlin, annotations on properties will be assigned to the parameters of the primary constructor.
On the other hand, if the parameter contains a value class, this annotation will not work.
See #651 for details.

Serialize

Serialization is performed as follows

1. If the value is unboxed in the getter of a property, re-box it
2. Serialization is performed by the serializer specified for the class or by the default serializer of kotlin-module

Re-boxing of value

Re-boxing is handled by KotlinAnnotationIntrospector#findSerializationConverter.

The properties re-boxed here are handled as if the type of the getter was value class.
This allows the JsonSerializer specified for the mapper, class and property to work.

Edge case on value class that wraps null

If the property is non-null and the value class that is the value wraps null, then the value is re-boxed by KotlinAnnotationIntrospector#findNullSerializer.
This is the case for serializing Dto as follows.

@JvmInline
value class WrapsNullable(val v: String?)

data class Dto(val value: WrapsNullable = WrapsNullable(null))

In this case, features like the JsonSerialize annotation will not work as expected due to the difference in processing paths.

Default serializers with kotlin-module

Default serializers for boxed values are implemented in KotlinSerializers.
There are two types: ValueClassUnboxSerializer and ValueClassSerializer.StaticJsonValue.

The former gets the value by unboxing and the latter by executing the method with the JsonValue annotation.
The serializer for the retrieved value is then obtained and serialization is performed.

Deserialize

Deserialization is performed as follows

1. Get KFunction from a non-synthetic constructor (if the constructor is a creator)
2. If it is unboxed on a parameter, refine it to a boxed type
3. value class is deserialized by Jackson default handling or by kotlin-module deserializer
4. Instantiation is done by calling KFunction

The special JsonDeserializer, WrapsNullableValueClassDeserializer, is described in the section on instantiation.

Get KFunction from non-synthetic constructor

Constructor with value class parameters compiles into a private non-synthesized constructor and a synthesized constructor.

A KFunction is inherently interconvertible with any constructor or method in a Java reflection.
In the case of a constructor with a value class parameter, it is the synthetic constructor that is interconvertible.

On the other hand, Jackson does not handle synthetic constructors.
Therefore, kotlin-module needs to get KFunction from a private non-synthetic constructor.

This acquisition process is implemented as a valueClassAwareKotlinFunction in ReflectionCache.kt.

Refinement to boxed type

Refinement to a boxed type is handled by KotlineNamesAnnotationIntrospector#refineDeserializationType.
Like serialization, the parameters refined here are handled as if the type of the parameter was value class.

This will cause the result of reading from the PropertyValueBuffer with ValueInstantiator#createFromObjectWith to be the boxed value.

Deserialization of value class

Deserialization of value class may be handled by default by Jackson or by kotlin-module.

by Jackson

If a custom JsonDeserializer is set or a special JsonCreator is defined, deserialization of the value class is handled by Jackson just like a normal class.
The special JsonCreator is a factory function that is configured to return the value class in bytecode.

The special JsonCreator is handled in exactly the same way as a regular class.
That is, it does not have the restrictions that the mode is fixed to DELEGATING or that it cannot have multiple arguments.
This can be defined by setting the return value to nullable, for example

@JvmInline
value class PrimitiveMultiParamCreator(val value: Int) {
    companion object {
        @JvmStatic
        @JsonCreator
        fun creator(first: Int, second: Int): PrimitiveMultiParamCreator? =
            PrimitiveMultiParamCreator(first + second)
    }
}

by kotlin-module

Deserialization using constructors or factory functions that return unboxed value in bytecode is handled by the WrapsNullableValueClassBoxDeserializer that defined in KotlinDeserializer.kt.

They must always have a parameter size of 1, like JsonCreator with DELEGATING mode specified.
Note that the kotlin-module proprietary implementation raises an InvalidDefinitionException if the parameter size is greater than 2.

Instantiation

Instantiation by calling KFunction obtained from a constructor or factory function is done with KotlinValueInstantiator#createFromObjectWith.

Boxed values are required as KFunction arguments, but since the value class is read as a boxed value as described above, basic processing is performed as in a normal class. However, there is special processing for the edge case described below.

Edge case on value class that wraps nullable

If the parameter type is value class and non-null, which wraps nullable, and the value on the JSON is null, the wrapped null is expected to be read as the value.

@JvmInline
value class WrapsNullable(val value: String?)

data class Dto(val wrapsNullable: WrapsNullable)

val mapper = jacksonObjectMapper()

// serialized: {"wrapsNullable":null}
val json = mapper.writeValueAsString(Dto(WrapsNullable(null)))
// expected: Dto(wrapsNullable=WrapsNullable(value=null))
val deserialized = mapper.readValue<Dto>(json)

In kotlin-module, a special JsonDeserializer named WrapsNullableValueClassDeserializer was introduced to support this.
This deserializer has a boxedNullValue property, which is referenced in KotlinValueInstantiator#createFromObjectWith as appropriate.

I considered implementing it with the traditional JsonDeserializer#getNullValue, but I chose to implement it as a special property because of inconsistencies that could not be resolved if all cases were covered in detail in the prototype.
Note that this property is referenced by KotlinValueInstantiator#createFromObjectWith, so it will not work when deserializing directly.