fields named "id" are skipped in nested objects

[wtholliday]

New Issue Checklist

• [x] I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
• [x] I have searched through existing issues.
• [x] I can reproduce the issue with the latest versions of Parse Server and the Parse Swift SDK.

Issue Description

Fields named "id" are skipped in nested objects.

Steps to reproduce

    struct MyType: Hashable, Codable {
        // BUG: if we call this "id" then parse won't save it
        var id: String
    }

    struct MyParseObject: ParseObject {
        public var originalData: Data?
        public var objectId: String?
        public var createdAt: Date?
        public var updatedAt: Date?
        public var ACL: ParseSwift.ParseACL?

        var nested: MyType?
        public init() {}
    }

    func test_parseEncodeDictionary() throws {
        var myObject = MyParseObject()
        myObject.nested = MyType(id: "test1")

        let object = try ParseCoding.parseEncoder()
            .encode(myObject,
                    acl: nil,
                    collectChildren: true,
                    objectsSavedBeforeThisOne: nil,
                    filesSavedBeforeThisOne: nil)
        XCTExpectFailure("currently skipping id fields")
        XCTAssertEqual(String(decoding: object.encoded, as: UTF8.self), #"{"nested":{"id":"test1"}}"#)
    }

Actual Outcome

Fields named "id" are ignored and don't make it to the server.

Expected Outcome

Fields named "id" (not in ParseObjects) should still be saved or an error should be reported so the user knows to rename the field.

Environment

Client

• Parse Swift SDK version: 5.8.2
• Xcode version: 15.1 (15C65)
• Operating system (iOS, macOS, watchOS, etc.): macOS
• Operating system version: 14.2.1 (23C71)

Server

• Parse Server version: 4.5.0
• Operating system: Ubuntu
• Local or remote host (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Heroku, Digital Ocean, etc): BackForApp

Database

• System (MongoDB or Postgres): MongoDB
• Database version: 3.6
• Local or remote host (MongoDB Atlas, mLab, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc): BackForApp

[cbaker6]

id is an internal keyword for all Parse classes and should not be used to name a property or else you will get unexpected behavior. This is not just for ParseSwift, but all of the SDKs. You can use a name like localId, key names you are not suppose to use are: https://github.com/netreconlab/Parse-Swift/blob/c0a3a452a20d9f3ab9cb2a2ea790d0359a3beca0/Sources/ParseSwift/Coding/ParseEncoder.swift#L75-L82

[wtholliday]

Why skip fields inside a struct which isn't a ParseObject? Seems like it could store them without any issues, since they are just represented as json strings on the server, right?

[cbaker6]

If you think you have a better solution, feel free to open a PR with your suggestion.

[cbaker6]

Reopening this, will see if I can provide a fix by the end of the week

[roaring-b]

Thanks, Corey! Discovering this the hard way was a huge pain.

[cbaker6]

I looked further into this and attempting to provide a fix now will cause more harm than good. The ParseEncoder is tricky as there are a number of properties that shouldn't be sent to the server.

As a workaround, you can do any of the following:

1. Not use property names that contain any of the keys being skipped by the SDK, https://github.com/netreconlab/Parse-Swift/issues/140#issuecomment-1872593121
2. Encode your respective object that contains the keys being skipped to JSON string before storing it in your ParseObject (the string will be stored as-is and won't skip keys). You can then decode your JSON string whenever you fetch your object from the server. You could then add another property with a getter and setter that decodes the string in the getter and encodes the string on the setter similar to

[cbaker6]

See #177 for fix