active model serializer not working with rails-api gem

Question

I am using rails-api gem in my project for json api, and for that purpose I used active model serializer gem for serializing my objects but some how the objects are not being serialized using active model serializer.

I have a MessageSerializer inside of my serializers folder

class MessageSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :id, :sender_id, :recipient_id, :sender_type, :subj, :body, :status, :sender

  def sender
    object.user.try('username')
  end
end

And my messages controller is as follows

class Api::MessagesController < Api::BaseController

  def index
    @messages = current_user.incoming_messages
    render json: @messages, serializer: MessageSerializer
  end

end

But the problem is that the serialized object thrown to client contains all the fields in message model ie; it contains created_at, updated_at fields too.

Seems like its not using serializer.

What might have gone wrong? I searched a lot about it but didn't found any post that helped me.

Thanks

change this to `class Api::MessagesController < Api::BaseController` to `class Api::MessagesController < ApplicationController` and change this also render json: @messages and try once — Gowri, Nov 05 '14 at 02:50
No not good. Api::BaseController class inherits ApplicaionController class. So basically its the same. — Gagan, Nov 06 '14 at 02:04

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered May 22 '15 at 21:23

16

In your BaseController, did you add the include bellow ?

include ActionController::Serialization

answered May 22 '15 at 21:23

Edouard Brèthes

1,142
11
25

1

this is the correct solution. never downgrade the gem. – seoyoochan Dec 17 '15 at 17:46

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 08 '14 at 14:41

10

What version of AMS are you using?

I had this same issue and was able to fix it by changing the AMS version from 0.9.X to 0.8.X. This can be done by adding a version number to your Gemfile.

gem 'active_model_serializers', '~> 0.8.0'

There are notes about this on the AMS GitHub repo.

https://github.com/rails-api/active_model_serializers#maintenance-please-read

answered Dec 08 '14 at 14:41

cll

111
5

Thank you! Would have wasted hours before realizing this! – Matt Huggins Apr 03 '15 at 22:54

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 17 '15 at 17:46

5

That's because the serialization is not loaded by default in rails-api.
You have to do this:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::API
  include ::ActionController::Serialization
end

answered Dec 17 '15 at 17:46

seoyoochan

822
3
14
28

That does not change anything for me. Any other ideas? – panzi Feb 08 '16 at 18:08

fsainz · Answer 4 · 2015-05-20T09:46:22.737

I didn't downgrade, I spent some time trying different things and at the end I get to a pattern like this:

def sender
  if object.sender
    serializer = SenderSerializer.new(object.sender)
    ActiveModel::Serializer::Adapter::JsonApi.new(serializer).as_json[:senders]
  end
end

it's ugly but it did the trick for me.

For a has_many relation, you can do something like this:

def attachments
  attachments = object.attachments.to_a
  return [] if attachments.empty?
  serializer = ActiveModel::Serializer::ArraySerializer.new(attachments, each_serializer:AttachmentSerializer)
  ActiveModel::Serializer::Adapter::JsonApi.new(serializer).as_json[:attachments]
end

active model serializer not working with rails-api gem

4 Answers4