Add serializeObject method to core

[ajpiano]

It's probably more useful into have a method in core for serializing a form directly to an object, instead of an array of objects with name and value keys. Luckily, Ben Alman has a very small implementation that leverages the existence of serializeArray to give us just such a method.

My experience tells me this is a relatively common use-case: I've used it on a number of projects, and I've directed numerous people toward it as well in the last year or two. Not only is it beneficial when developing single-page apps with Backbone or the like, it's considerably simpler than existing options (in core) for users who need to submit a form via ajax, but also want to augment the data with some properties beforehand.

 https://raw.github.com/cowboy/jquery-misc/master/jquery.ba-serializeobject.js

While most plugins should stay just that - plugins - I think that this feature is common enough, lean enough, and low-level enough for us to be able to offer it in core.

[jzaefferer]

+1

[jaubourg]

+0

[dmethvin]

+1, Okay okay you convinced me. Somewhat of a side note, do we need a general method to convert arrays to hashes? I haven't looked at the code to see how often we do that.

[timmywil]

+0, I don't really see this getting used without the presence of some other plugin.

[mikesherov]

+1

[rwaldron]

+1

[cowboy]

Keep in mind that the logic in my $.fn.serializeObject plugin is rather naive, and will only create the most basic objects. See this fiddle to get a better idea of what I'm talking about:

 http://jsfiddle.net/cowboy/Qxc72/

If you want to do this "right"—ie. less feature requests than you're currently getting—one of two things probably has to happen:

1) a much more powerful form parser will need to be created, and with it an updated $.param serializer 2) a $.deparam compliment to the existing $.param (surprise, surprise, another plugin of mine)

or, of course, a third alternative:

3) "wontfix"

I'm more than happy to work with you guys to help make this happen, or to at least help explain what's really involved if I haven't made it clear enough.

Let me know!

[timmywil]

@cowboy: I think we're interested in seeing an implementation. It's hard to say whether it will make it into core without first seeing its impact on the code.

[dmethvin]

If this is going to get a lot bigger to handle more cases, I'm likely to move my +1 to a -1. However, the effort wouldn't be wasted if the outcome was a solid plugin.

[SineSwiper]

+10. The other two serialize methods are useless to me.

[dmethvin]

#11312 is a duplicate of this ticket.

[wheresrhys@…]

The duplicate above was mine, so thought I'd suggest on this thread allowing passing a parameter "string", "array" or "object" to the serialize() method (defaulting to "string") rather than adding new methods

[SineSwiper]

Just use the code from the fiddle above:  https://raw.github.com/cowboy/jquery-misc/master/jquery.ba-serializeobject.js

This is too small to really be put into a plugin. If it turns into some larger function, then discuss taking it out and putting it back into a plugin. But, honestly, I don't really see that happening.

[dmethvin]

@cowboy is saying (and I agree) that the simple implementation in the OP would probably not be robust enough, and we'd get bugs filed against its shortcomings. So before we land it I think we'd need to see what a complete implementation looks like. First we need an owner.

[dmethvin]

Still open to an implementation here, with the caveat that we don't want a large amount of code. If it's a lot, it should be a plugin.

[dmethvin]

Just as a starting point:  http://jsfiddle.net/DxC5J/3/

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