Allowing partial specialization of the convert struct

docs/Tutorial.md

@@ -198,4 +198,80 @@ Then you could use `Vec3` wherever you could use any other type:
 YAML::Node node = YAML::Load("start: [1, 3, 0]");
 Vec3 v = node["start"].as<Vec3>();
 node["end"] = Vec3(2, -1, 0);
+```
+
+## Partial specialization
+
+If you need to specialize the `convert` struct for a set of types instead of just one you can use partial specialization with the help of `std::enable_if` (SFINAE).
+
+Here is a small example showing how to partially specialize the `convert` struct for all types deriving from a base class:
+
+```cpp
+// Base class
+class A
+{
+public:
+  A() = default;
+  A(int a) : a{a} {}
+
+  // virtual load/emit methods
+  virtual void load(const YAML::Node &node) {
+    a = node["a"].as<int>();
+  }
+
+  virtual YAML::Node emit() const  {
+    YAML::Node node;
+    node["a"] = a;
+    return node;
+  }
+
+  int a;
+};
+
+// Derived class
+class B : public A
+{
+public:
+  B() = default;
+  B(int a, int b) : A{a}, b{b} {}
+
+  // override virtual load/emit methods
+  virtual void load(const YAML::Node &node) override {
+    A::load(node);
+    b = node["b"].as<int>();
+  }
+
+  virtual YAML::Node emit() const override {
+    YAML::Node node = A::emit();
+    node["b"] = b;
+    return node;
+  }
+
+  int b;
+};
+
+// Implementation of convert::{encode,decode} for all classes derived from or being A
+namespace YAML {
+  template<typename T> 
+  struct convert<T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_base_of<A, T>::value>::type> {
+    static Node encode(const T &rhs) {
+      Node node = rhs.emit();
+      return node;
+    }
+
+    static bool decode(const Node &node, T &rhs) {
+      rhs.load(node);
+      return true;
+    }
+  };
+}
+```
+
+Which can then be use like this:
+```cpp
+YAML::Node node = YAML::Load("{a: 1, b: 2}");
+B b = node.as<B>();
+b.a = 12;
+b.b = 42;
+node = b;
 ```

include/yaml-cpp/node/convert.h

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 namespace YAML {
 class Binary;
 struct _Null;
-template <typename T>
+template <typename T, typename Enable>
 struct convert;
 }  // namespace YAML
 

include/yaml-cpp/node/node.h

@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ YAML_CPP_API bool operator==(const Node& lhs, const Node& rhs);
 
 YAML_CPP_API Node Clone(const Node& node);
 
-template <typename T>
+template <typename T, typename Enable = void>
 struct convert;
 }
 

test/integration/convert_partial_specialization_test.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#include "yaml-cpp/emitterstyle.h"
+#include "yaml-cpp/eventhandler.h"
+#include "yaml-cpp/yaml.h"  // IWYU pragma: keep
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+
+// Base class
+class A {
+ public:
+  A() = default;
+  A(int a) : a{a} {}
+
+  // virtual load/emit methods
+  virtual void load(const YAML::Node &node) { a = node["a"].as<int>(); }
+
+  virtual YAML::Node emit() const {
+    YAML::Node node;
+    node["a"] = a;
+    return node;
+  }
+
+  int a{};
+};
+
+// Derived class
+class B : public A {
+ public:
+  B() = default;
+  B(int a, int b) : A{a}, b{b} {}
+
+  // override virtual load/emit methods
+  virtual void load(const YAML::Node &node) override {
+    A::load(node);
+    b = node["b"].as<int>();
+  }
+
+  virtual YAML::Node emit() const override {
+    YAML::Node node = A::emit();
+    node["b"] = b;
+    return node;
+  }
+
+  int b{};
+};
+
+// Implementation of convert::{encode,decode} for all classes derived from or
+// being A
+namespace YAML {
+template <typename T>
+struct convert<T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_base_of<A, T>::value>::type> {
+  static Node encode(const T &rhs) {
+    Node node = rhs.emit();
+    return node;
+  }
+
+  static bool decode(const Node &node, T &rhs) {
+    rhs.load(node);
+    return true;
+  }
+};
+
+namespace {
+
+TEST(ConvertPartialSpecializationTest, EncodeBaseClass) {
+  Node n(Load("{a: 1}"));
+  A a = n.as<A>();
+  EXPECT_EQ(a.a, 1);
+}
+
+TEST(ConvertPartialSpecializationTest, EncodeDerivedClass) {
+  Node n(Load("{a: 1, b: 2}"));
+  B b = n.as<B>();
+  EXPECT_EQ(b.a, 1);
+  EXPECT_EQ(b.b, 2);
+}
+
+TEST(ConvertPartialSpecializationTest, DecodeBaseClass) {
+  A a(1);
+  Node n;
+  n = a;
+  EXPECT_EQ(a.a, n["a"].as<int>());
+}
+
+TEST(ConvertPartialSpecializationTest, DecodeDerivedClass) {
+  B b(1, 2);
+  Node n;
+  n = b;
+  EXPECT_EQ(b.a, n["a"].as<int>());
+  EXPECT_EQ(b.b, n["b"].as<int>());
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+}  // namespace YAML