Support serialization of objects for use in state

[joe-p]

Problem

PuyaTS does not currently support native objects in state

export type ListingKey = {
  owner: arc4.Address;
  asset: uint64;
  nonce: uint64;
};

export type ListingValue = {
  deposited: uint64;
  unitaryPrice: uint64;
  bidder: arc4.Address;
  bid: uint64;
  bidUnitaryPrice: uint64;
};

export default class DigitalMarketplace extends arc4.Contract {
  listings = BoxMap<ListingKey, ListingValue>({ keyPrefix: "listings" });

Results in errors such as

contracts/marketplace.algo.ts:300:5 error: Not Supported: Serializing object to bytes
                                            this.listings(key).value = {
                                            ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
contracts/marketplace.algo.ts:32:3 error: lib.d.ts::object is not a valid type for storage
                                           listings = BoxMap<ListingKey, ListingValue>({ keyPrefix: "listings" });
                                           ^~~~~~~~
info: Compilation halted due to errors

Solution

Proposal

Automatically handle serialization of native objects in state

Pros and Cons

Easier TEALScript migration and more familiar to TypeScript developers

Dependencies