How customize serialization of a result-type using serde?

I have a struct which contains a Result field that I want to serialize

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct ServerResponse<D,E> {
   result : Result<D,E>,
   version : String,
   // More parameters here
}

I want to be able to serialize and deserialize this struct to the following-format.

If result is successful

{
   "result" : "my_result_data",
   "version" : "1.0",
}

If the result is not successful

{
   "error" : { "message" : "The request failed", "error-code" : 212 },
   "version" : "1.0"
}

I have one issue with your question: You want Err to be deserialized from a json object with the fields message and error-code, yet it's a generic parameter and there's no indication that it is constrained to any specific type.

I've chosen to work around that issue by defining a new trait:

pub trait ResponseError {
    fn message(&self) -> &str;
    fn error_code(&self) -> i32;
    fn from_parts(message: &str, code: i32) -> Self;
}

Any ServerResponse that wants to be serialized must E: ResponseError. That might entirely be the wrong thing to do, but with what limited information I have, it's the best thing I can do.

The actual implementation is quite mechanic:

1. Set up ServerResponse to delegate de/serialization to a set of custom functions:

   #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
   #[serde(bound(
       serialize = "D: Serialize, E: ResponseError",
       deserialize = "D: DeserializeOwned, E: ResponseError"
   ))]
   struct ServerResponse<D, E> {
       #[serde(with = "untagged_ok_result")]
       result: Result<D, E>,
       version: String,
       // More parameters here
   }
   

2. Scaffold said functions

   mod untagged_ok_result {
       pub fn serialize<'a, S, T, E>(v: &Result<T, E>, ser: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error> { todo!() }
       pub fn deserialize<'de, D, T, E>(de: D) -> Result<Result<T, E>, D::Error> { todo!() }
   }
   

3. Define a Rust type where derived De/Serialize matches whatever actual JSON format you want

   #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
   #[serde(untagged)]
   #[serde(bound(deserialize = "D: Deserialize<'a>"))]
   enum Mresult<'a, D> {
       Ok(D),
       Err {
           #[serde(borrow)]
           message: Cow<'a, str>,
           #[serde(rename = "error-code")]
           error_code: i32,
       },
    }
   

4. Implement de/serialization by converting between the std Result and the custom type:

   pub fn serialize<'a, S, T, E>(v: &Result<T, E>, ser: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error>
   where
       S: Serializer,
       T: Serialize,
       E: ResponseError,
   {
       match v {
           Ok(v) => Mresult::Ok(v),
           Err(v) => Mresult::Err {
               message: v.message().into(),
               error_code: v.error_code(),
           },
       }
       .serialize(ser)
   }
   pub fn deserialize<'de, D, T, E>(de: D) -> Result<Result<T, E>, D::Error>
   where
       D: Deserializer<'de>,
       T: Deserialize<'de>,
       E: ResponseError,
   {
       Ok(match Mresult::deserialize(de)? {
           Mresult::Ok(v) => Ok(v),
           Mresult::Err {
               message,
               error_code,
           } => Err(ResponseError::from_parts(&message, error_code)),
       })
   }
   

Playground

(I was tempted to use the from/into attributes for a while, but those are container attributes, which causes other boilerplate. It might be an option for you anyway)