Redux states - do they need to be serializable?

Is there any specific reason why KVision’s redux module should require serializable data classes? I’m running into a problem with a custom class of ObjectID from MongoDB. I’ve written a custom serializer for my class:

@Serializer(forClass = ObjectID::class)
object ObjectIDSerializer: KSerializer<ObjectID> {
    override val descriptor: SerialDescriptor =
            StringDescriptor.withName("ObjectID")

    override fun serialize(encoder: Encoder, obj: ObjectID) {
        encoder.encodeString(obj.toString())
    }

    override fun deserialize(decoder: Decoder): ObjectID {
        return ObjectID(decoder.decodeString())
    }
}

but when I try to run it in the browser, I get Can't locate argument-less serializer for class null even though none of my variables in the redux state are nullable. Is it possible to remove the requirement for it to be serializable? Unless there is a specific reason why it needs to be.

[rjaros]

The redux module is already fixed in my source tree. I’ve modified some tests to check if lists are working and it seems they do. Thx for this enhancement.

[rjaros]

First the Redux case. It’s not that simple. The original Redux (redux.js.org) is quite sophisticated piece of software. It’s extendable with addons and middleware and kvision-redux module includes one of the most widely used ones: redux-thunk. It allows to dispatch “Action creators” functions, which is necessary for any asynchronous operations. Your redux implementation is very basic and has no support for this. With original Redux implementation you can use any middleware you want, and the Redux ecosystem gives you very large choice. That’s the reason I’ve integrated KVision with original Redux library. I’m watching some Kotlin projects (https://github.com/freeletics/CoRedux, https://github.com/gumil/Kaskade), but none of them are targeting Kotlin/JS yet.

Regarding the serializable requirement - the kotlin-redux project I’m using has some limitations with Kotlin Lists. I’ve decided that support for Lists is more important, so my kvision-redux module serializes the state to the JSON string before passing it to Redux. This way we can use any classes for the Kotlin state, as long as they are serializable - this is a trade-off.

What can be done:

1. We can easily create second kvision-redux module without serialization requirement. But you will not be able to use Lists in your state (and should be ready for other incompatibilities).
2. We can create yet another redux module with your implementantion instead of the original. But you will not be able to dispatch action creators or use any other Redux addons.