ActiveModelSerializers::JsonapiEmbeddedRecordsDeserializer

In some cases it is required to embed records into a relationship when creating or maybe even when updating a record. The JSONAPI spec currently doesn't support this but since a relationship contains a data part containing record objects, it seems to be a possible way to include data there.

This gem extends the deserializer of ActiveModelSerializers to deserialize relationships with embedded data into ActiveRecord nested attributes. The code is extracted from the pull request #1614 of ActiveModelSerializers.

The input data contains an author with embedded data.

{
  "data": {
    "type": "photos",
    "id": "zorglub",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "Ember Hamster",
      "src": "http://example.com/images/productivity.png"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "author": {
        "data": {
          "type": "author",
          "attributes": {
            "name": "John Doe"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

When using the deserializer, the relationship author must be marked as embedded.

ActiveModelSerializers::Deserialization.jsonapi_parse(data, embedded: [:author])

The result of the deserialization contains the author_attributes key as expected by ActiveRecord containing the nested attributes.

{
  id: 'zorglub',
  title: 'Ember Hamster',
  src: 'http://example.com/images/productivity.png',
  author_attributes: {
    name: 'John Doe'
  }
}

It is also possible to specify one to many relationship with standard JSON-API syntax.

{
  "data": {
    "type": "photos",
    "id": "zorglub",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "Ember Hamster",
      "src": "http://example.com/images/productivity.png"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "authors": {
        "data": [{
          "type": "author",
          "attributes": {
            "name": "John Doe"
          }
        }, {
          "type": "author",
          "attributes": {
            "name": "Richard Roe"
          }
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'active_model_serializers-jsonapi_embedded_records_deserializer'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install active_model_serializers-jsonapi_embedded_records_deserializer

To support embedded records, the relationship expecting embedded data must be specified in the embedded key of the deserialization options.

ActiveModelSerializers::Deserialization.jsonapi_parse(data, embedded: [:author])

The deserialization part of ActiveModelSerializer is restructured between 0.10.0.rc4 and the current master branch. Please check the version table below to choose the right gem version.

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake spec to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/spieker/active_model_serializers-jsonapi_embedded_records_deserializer. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.