TinySerializer

Simple DSL for converting objects to Hashes, which is mostly API-compatible with ActiveModel::Serializers. Not quite a drop-in replacement, but facilitates migrating away from it. The resulting Hashes can be rendered as JSON by Rails using the ActiveSupport::JSON module.

Unlike AMS, it does not integrate with Rails for automatic usage with the render function, which has proven to be one of the biggest sources of confusion and complexity for me. render json: @object will continue to work exactly as it does in a base Rails setup.

Use if you have heavily invested in active_model_serializers, but have started experiencing the same frustrations I had with it and can't transition to jsonapi-rb or fast_jsonapi.

Benefits:

• Extremely simple and deterministic behavior; no adapter classes and other complications. Just turns Objects into Hashes.
• Easy to understand; uses #as_json to serialize attributes.
• Simple and explicit invocation.
• ~200 lines of code, give or take.
• Seems pretty darn fast, at least as fast as public_send, Hash#[]=, and Hash#to_json can be.

Downsides:

• Uses #as_json to serialize attributes (maybe unintended consequences, especially with complex objects).
• Requires ActiveSupport.

MyObject = Struct.new(:id, :first_name, :last_name, :date) do
  def parent; nil; end
  def sub_record; nil; end
  def related_items; []; end
end

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  attributes :id,
             :first_name,
             :last_name,
             :date

  belongs_to :parent, serializer: ParentSerializer
  has_one :sub_record # serializer will be inferred to be SubRecordSerializer
  has_many :related_items, serializer: RelatedItemSerializer

  attribute :full_name do |object|
    "#{object.first_name} #{object.last_name}"
  end
end

Notes on blocks:

The object parameter for blocks is optional, as blocks are executed in the context of the serializer instance. It just makes it easier to use the fast_jsonapi gem later if you want.

object = MyObject.new(...)
# Several ways to invoke the serializer are available:
MyObjectSerializer.new(object).serialize
MyObjectSerializer.serialize(object)

Produces:

{
  "id": 1,
  "first_name": "Fred",
  "last_name": "Flintstone",
  "date": "2000-01-01",
  "full_name": "Fred Flintstone",
  "parent": null,
  "sub_record": null,
  "related_items": []
}

In Rails, calling .serialize is optional because TinySerializer implements all the 'magic' methods (as_json, to_json, and serializable_hash), although I'm not the biggest fan (it loses some explicitness):

@model = MyObject.new(1, "Fred", "Flintstone", Date.new(2000, 1, 1))
render json: MyObjectSerializer.new(@model)

Takes every attribute you define, and uses it to call #public_send on the object to serialize, then uses #as_json to serialize the resulting value. If you define the attribute with a block, it will call the block to get the value instead.

Collections are handled automatically:

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  attributes :id, :first_name
end

items = [
  MyObject.new(1, "Fred"),
  MyObject.new(2, "Wilma")
]
MyObjectSerializer.new(items).serialize

Produces:

[
  {"id": 1, "name": "Fred"},
  {"id": 2, "name": "Wilma"}
]

The DSL methods belongs_to, has_one, and has_many are all synonyms for "use this serializer to serialize this property". They are basically syntax sugar for:

class MySerializer < TinySerializer
  attribute :parent do |object|
    ParentSerializer.new(object.parent).serialize
  end
end

These methods all optionally take a block, which you can use to customize the object or collection. For example, to avoid loading every single item in a has_many relation:

class MySerializer < TinySerializer
  has_many :items, serializer: ItemSerializer do |object|
    object.items.limit(100)
  end
end

When used with Rails, serializer instances have the #url_helpers method available.

class ItemSerializer < TinySerializer
  attribute :link do
    url_helpers.item_path(object)
  end
end

If you don't want ID's to be serialized as numeric types, you can have them automatically detected and coerced to Strings.

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  self.coerce_ids_to_string = true
end

To enable globally, but opt out for a specific attribute:

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  self.coerce_ids_to_string = true

  attribute :id, is_id: false
end

If you pass in an options object as the second argument to the serializer, it will be available for use within the serializer. For example:

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  attribute :id do |object, options|
    options[:prefix] + object.id
  end
end

MyObjectSerializer.new(object, { prefix: "prefix_" }).serialize
# Produces:
{
  id: "prefix_id"
}

Attributes are inherited from parent classes, but can be extended. This example works as you would expect from active_model_serializers (the name attribute will only appear if you use MyObjectSerializer::WithName.serialize(my_object)):

class MyObjectSerializer < TinySerializer
  attribute :id

  class WithName < MyObjectSerializer
    attribute :name
  end
end

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'tiny_serializer', '~> 2.0.0'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/wmakley/tiny_serializer.

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