Treat serializer-tagged fields as columns, not associations

[dschreij]

Problem

A field with a serializer: tag (serializer:json, for one) is stored in a single column whatever its Go type. The generator classified such fields by their type: a struct became field.Struct, a slice field.Slice, so Set and Where on a serialized column produced association SQL.

Fix

hasSerializerTag reads the gorm tag, and a serialized field gets field.Field[T]. shortTypeName shortens the type expression while keeping its shape: []*example.com/pkg.T becomes []*pkg.T and map[string]example.com/pkg.T becomes map[string]pkg.T, where path.Base alone would drop the prefix.

Test

TestSerializedFieldsAreColumns generates over a struct with serialized struct, slice and map fields next to a real association and asserts each helper; TestShortTypeName covers the type expression shapes.

The first commit adds a small test helper (generateFromSources, containsField) that writes ad hoc sources into a throwaway module and runs the generator over them. The other pull requests from this fork share that commit; git merges the identical addition without conflict, so they can land in any order.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

The new tests and helper have a couple of concrete gaps (notably the stated map-coverage case and helper robustness) that should be addressed to match the PR’s intended guarantees.

Once you've addressed the issues Copilot identified, you can request another Copilot review.

Pull request overview

This PR updates the internal code generator to treat GORM serializer:-tagged struct fields as single database columns (not associations), ensuring generated Set/Where helpers produce column SQL even when the Go type is a struct/slice/map-like type.

Changes:

• Add hasSerializerTag to detect serializer: in gorm struct tags and classify those fields as field.Field[T].
• Add shortTypeName to shorten full import paths inside type expressions while preserving shape (pointers/slices/maps/generics).
• Add generator-focused tests plus a small helper to generate code from ad hoc sources.

File summaries

File	Description
internal/gen/utils.go	Adds serializer-tag detection and type-shortening helpers used by generation logic.
internal/gen/generator.go	Updates Field.Type() to emit field.Field[...] for serializer-tagged fields (avoids association handling).
internal/gen/serializer_columns_test.go	Adds regression tests asserting serializer-tagged fields generate column helpers, plus shortTypeName unit tests.
internal/gen/generator_support_test.go	Adds a test utility to generate code from in-memory sources via a temp module.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 4/4 changed files
• Comments generated: 2
• Review effort level: Lite

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[dschreij]

Addressed the review. The shared test helper now creates parent directories before writing, so a nested key like models/model.go works as its doc comment promises.

Added the map case: a named map[string]string with the serializer tag now asserts field.Field[sample.Options], and the same type without the tag asserts field.Struct[sample.Options], so the tag is what the test attributes the change to.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

The change is narrowly scoped, aligns with the stated behavior, and is covered by targeted tests that exercise the new serializer handling and type-shortening logic.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 4/4 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Lite

[dschreij]

Addressed the second round.

The shared test helper now reads the whole output tree rather than its top level, so a fixture that spans packages is not silently truncated. That was only reachable once the helper started accepting nested source paths, so thank you for following it through.