Classy JSON encoding/decoding with some fancy features.

ClassyJSON.py

import json, re

class MyObject:
    pass

class MyExtension(MyObject):
    pass

class Object:
    pass

class ClassyEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
    def default(self, obj):
        if isinstance(obj, MyObject):
            key = '__%s__' % obj.__class__.__name__
            return { key: obj.__dict__ }
        return json.JSONEncoder.default(self, obj)

def ClassyDecoder(dct):
    class_regex = ClassyDecoder.class_regex
    if len(dct) == 1:
        type_name, value = dct.items()[0]
        if class_regex.match(type_name):
            type_name = type_name[2:-2] #Remove the __ __
            t = globals()[type_name]
            
            i = t()
            for k,v in value.items():
                i.__dict__[k] = v
            return i
    return dct
ClassyDecoder.class_regex = re.compile("__[^_]+__")

f = MyExtension()
f.myField = "fieldValue"

s = ClassyEncoder().encode(f)
print "JSON Encoding:"
print repr(s)

print "Decoded object:"
c = json.loads(s, object_hook=ClassyDecoder)
print c

print "myField:"
print c.myField