Hi, I originally asked this question on stackoverflow, but it failed to get any traction, so re-posting it here.
Consider a trait that performs “encoding” of arbitrary objects:
trait Encoder[R] {
def encode(r: R): Array[Byte]
}
Assuming encoding of primitive types is known and custom types can be encoded by defining up a “serializer”:
trait Serializer[T] {
def serialize(r: T): Array[Byte]
}
we can implement a macro for case class encoding by simply looping the fields and looking up type serializers implicitly. Here’s a dummy implementation that looks up the serializer for R itself (in reality we look up serializers for case class field types):
object Encoder {
implicit def apply[R <: Product]: Encoder[R] = macro applyImpl[R]
def applyImpl[R: c.WeakTypeTag](c: blackbox.Context): c.Expr[Encoder[R]] = {
import c.universe._
c.Expr[Encoder[R]](q"""
new ${weakTypeOf[Encoder[R]]} {
override def encode(r: ${weakTypeOf[R]}): Array[Byte] =
implicitly[_root_.Serializer[${weakTypeOf[R]}]].serialize(r)
}
""")
}
}
Now define a base “processor”:
abstract class BaseProcessor[R: Encoder] {
def process(r: R): Unit = {
println(implicitly[Encoder[R]].encode(r).length)
}
}
And try to use it:
case class Record(i: Int)
object Serializers {
implicit def recordSerializer: Serializer[Record] =
(r: Record) => Array.emptyByteArray
}
import Serializers._
class Processor extends BaseProcessor[Record]
This fails to compile with:
// [error] Loader.scala:10:22: could not find implicit value for parameter e: Serializer[Record]
// [error] class Processor extends BaseProcessor[Record]
// [error] ^
// [error] one error found
However the following do compile:
class Processor extends BaseProcessor[Record]()(Encoder[Record]) // Compiles!
object x { class Processor extends BaseProcessor[Record] } // Compiles!
I can’t really understand why this happens, looks like it has something to do with the Processor definition being a top level definition, since as soon as I move it inside a class/object everything works as expected. Here’s one more example that fails to compile:
object x {
import Serializers._ // moving the import here also makes it NOT compile
class Processor extends BaseProcessor[Record]
}
Why does this happen and is there any way to make it work?