Fix serializing of time/date columns using yaml serializer

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ recommendations of [keepachangelog.com](http://keepachangelog.com/).
 
 ### Fixed
 
-- None
+- [#1458](https://github.com/paper-trail-gem/paper_trail/pull/1416) - Fix serializing
+  of time/date columns using yaml serializer. Previously, these were serialized as ruby
+  objects which uses a lot of space. Now they are serialized into strings.
 
 ## 15.1.0 (2023-10-22)
 

lib/paper_trail/attribute_serializers/cast_attribute_serializer.rb

@@ -44,7 +44,14 @@ def deserialize(attr, val)
       end
 
       def serialize(attr, val)
-        AttributeSerializerFactory.for(@klass, attr).serialize(val)
+        serialized = AttributeSerializerFactory.for(@klass, attr).serialize(val)
+        @klass.connection.type_cast(serialized)
+        case serialized
+        when Date, Time
+          @klass.connection.type_cast(serialized)
+        else
+          serialized
+        end
       end
     end
   end

spec/paper_trail/attribute_serializers/object_attribute_spec.rb

@@ -40,6 +40,26 @@ module AttributeSerializers
           end
         end
       end
+
+      describe "#serialize" do
+        it "serializes a time object into a plain string" do
+          attrs = { "created_at" => Time.zone.local(2015, 7, 15, 20, 34, 0) }
+          described_class.new(Widget).serialize(attrs)
+          expect(attrs["created_at"]).not_to be_a(ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone)
+          expect(attrs["created_at"]).to be_a(String)
+          expect(attrs["created_at"]).to match(/2015/)
+        end
+      end
+
+      describe "#deserialize" do
+        it "deserializes a time object correctly" do
+          time = 1.day.ago
+          attrs = { "created_at" => time }
+          described_class.new(Widget).serialize(attrs)
+          described_class.new(Widget).deserialize(attrs)
+          expect(attrs["created_at"].to_i).to eq(time.to_i)
+        end
+      end
     end
   end
 end