Merge pull request #6128 from jasongrout/widget-trait-serialization

Widget trait serialization

IPython/html/static/widgets/js/widget.js

@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ define(["widgets/js/manager",
             var that = this;
             var packed;
             if (value instanceof Backbone.Model) {
-                return value.id;
+                return "IPY_MODEL_" + value.id;
 
             } else if ($.isArray(value)) {
                 packed = [];
@@ -252,13 +252,15 @@ define(["widgets/js/manager",
                 });
                 return unpacked;
 
+            } else if (typeof value === 'string' && value.slice(0,10) === "IPY_MODEL_") {
+		var model = this.widget_manager.get_model(value.slice(10, value.length));
+		if (model) {
+		    return model;
+		} else {
+		    return value;
+		}
             } else {
-                var model = this.widget_manager.get_model(value);
-                if (model) {
-                    return model;
-                } else {
                     return value;
-                }
             }
         },
 

IPython/html/widgets/widget.py

@@ -195,8 +195,15 @@ class Widget(LoggingConfigurable):
             A single property's name to get.
         """
         keys = self.keys if key is None else [key]
-        return {k: self._pack_widgets(getattr(self, k)) for k in keys} 
-
+        state = {}
+        for k in keys:
+            f = self.trait_metadata(k, 'to_json')
+            if f is None:
+                f = self._trait_to_json
+            value = getattr(self, k)
+            state[k] = f(value)
+        return state
+    
     def send(self, content):
         """Sends a custom msg to the widget model in the front-end.
 
@@ -280,7 +287,10 @@ class Widget(LoggingConfigurable):
         """Called when a state is received from the front-end."""
         for name in self.keys:
             if name in sync_data:
-                value = self._unpack_widgets(sync_data[name])
+                f = self.trait_metadata(name, 'from_json')
+                if f is None:
+                    f = self._trait_from_json
+                value = f(sync_data[name])
                 with self._lock_property(name, value):
                     setattr(self, name, value)
 
@@ -299,31 +309,34 @@ class Widget(LoggingConfigurable):
         """Called when a view has been displayed for this widget instance"""
         self._display_callbacks(self, **kwargs)
 
-    def _pack_widgets(self, x):
-        """Recursively converts all widget instances to model id strings.
+    def _trait_to_json(self, x):
+        """Convert a trait value to json
 
-        Children widgets will be stored and transmitted to the front-end by 
-        their model ids.  Return value must be JSON-able."""
+        Traverse lists/tuples and dicts and serialize their values as well.
+        Replace any widgets with their model_id
+        """
         if isinstance(x, dict):
-            return {k: self._pack_widgets(v) for k, v in x.items()}
+            return {k: self._trait_to_json(v) for k, v in x.items()}
         elif isinstance(x, (list, tuple)):
-            return [self._pack_widgets(v) for v in x]
+            return [self._trait_to_json(v) for v in x]
         elif isinstance(x, Widget):
-            return x.model_id
+            return "IPY_MODEL_" + x.model_id
         else:
             return x # Value must be JSON-able
 
-    def _unpack_widgets(self, x):
-        """Recursively converts all model id strings to widget instances.
+    def _trait_from_json(self, x):
+        """Convert json values to objects
 
-        Children widgets will be stored and transmitted to the front-end by 
-        their model ids."""
+        Replace any strings representing valid model id values to Widget references.
+        """
         if isinstance(x, dict):
-            return {k: self._unpack_widgets(v) for k, v in x.items()}
+            return {k: self._trait_from_json(v) for k, v in x.items()}
         elif isinstance(x, (list, tuple)):
-            return [self._unpack_widgets(v) for v in x]
-        elif isinstance(x, string_types):
-            return x if x not in Widget.widgets else Widget.widgets[x]
+            return [self._trait_from_json(v) for v in x]
+        elif isinstance(x, string_types) and x.startswith('IPY_MODEL_') and x[10:] in Widget.widgets:
+            # we want to support having child widgets at any level in a hierarchy
+            # trusting that a widget UUID will not appear out in the wild
+            return Widget.widgets[x]
         else:
             return x