Max depth produces array of nulls

[danmartin-epiphany]

Since updating from v1.3.x to 1.4.x the serializer now returns an array of nulls when max_depth is exceeded whereas before it returned an empty array.

E.g. I have something like this set up:

class Tag {
    public $name;
}

class User {
    public $name;
    public User $lineManager;
    public tags = []; // array of Tag
}

In my serializer config I have max_depth set to 1 for $lineManager.

I used to get something like this when serializing a user:

{
    name: "Employee",
    tags: [
        {
            name: "Junior"
        },
        {
            name: "Developer"
        }
    ],
    lineManager: {
        name: "Manager",
        tags: [],
        lineManager: null
    }
}

Now I get this:

{
    name: "Employee",
    tags: [
        {
            name: "Junior"
        },
        {
            name: "Developer"
        }
    ],
    lineManager: {
        name: "Manager",
        tags: [null, null, null],
        lineManager: null
    }
}

lineManager.tags has gone from [] to [null, null, null]

I've had a look through the notes etc. and I can't see anything about this. It's possible that it was intended but it doesn't seem right to me.

[goetas]

for arrays you need max_depth = 2

[danmartin-epiphany]

Thanks for responding so quickly but if I set max_depth = 2 then that just pushes the problem further down:

{
    name: "Employee",
    tags: [
        {
            name: "Junior"
        },
        {
            name: "Developer"
        }
    ],
    lineManager: {
        name: "Manager",
        tags: [
            {
                name: "Senior"
            },
            {
                name: "Developer"
            }
        ],
        lineManager: {
             name: "Director",
             tags: [null, null]
        }
    }
}

Now I get the full set of tags for the lineManager but I also get their lineManager and they have an array of nulls for tags.

[goetas]

it is a known bug (and very old), but you can put max_depth = 2 on your collections

[danmartin-epiphany]

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding but does this mean I should have max_depth = 1 on the line manager property and max_depth = 2 on tags? That doesn't seem to affect anything for me.

I'm also wondering why the behaviour has recently changed if it was an old bug?

[goetas]

I'm also wondering why the behaviour has recently changed if it was an old bug?

this is a old bug, if you look at the issue list, there are issues 2 years old talking about it

Fixing the bug now will almost create a BC break, since a lot of people (me includes) are solving the issue with max depth = 2

[danmartin-epiphany]

OK I'm going to work around the problem. Thanks for your help.