JSONAPI::Resources

JSONAPI::Resources, or "JR", provides a framework for developing a server that complies with the JSON API specification.

Like JSON API itself, JR's design is focused on the resources served by an API. JR needs little more than a definition of your resources, including their attributes and relationships, to make your server compliant with JSON API.

JR is designed to work with Rails 4.0+, and provides custom routes, controllers, and serializers. JR's resources may be backed by ActiveRecord models or by custom objects.

Demo App

We have a simple demo app, called Peeps, available to show how JR is used.

Client Libraries

JSON API maintains a (non-verified) listing of client libraries which should be compatible with JSON API compliant server implementations such as JR.

Installation

Add JR to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'jsonapi-resources'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install jsonapi-resources

Usage

Resources

Resources define the public interface to your API. A resource defines which attributes are exposed, as well as relationships to other resources.

Resource definitions should by convention be placed in a directory under app named resources, app/resources. The class name should be the single underscored name of the model that backs the resource with _resource.rb appended. For example, a Contact model's resource should have a class named ContactResource defined in a file named contact_resource.rb.

JSONAPI::Resource

Resources must be derived from JSONAPI::Resource, or a class that is itself derived from JSONAPI::Resource.

For example:

require 'jsonapi/resource'

class ContactResource < JSONAPI::Resource
end

Attributes

Any of a resource's attributes that are accessible must be explicitly declared. Single attributes can be declared using the attribute method, and multiple attributes can be declared with the attributes method on the resource class.

For example:

require 'jsonapi/resource'

class ContactResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id
  attribute :name_first
  attributes :name_last, :email, :twitter
end

This resource has 5 attributes: :id, :name_first, :name_last, :email, :twitter. By default these attributes must exist on the model that is handled by the resource.

A resource object wraps a Ruby object, usually an ActiveModel record, which is available as the @model variable. This allows a resource's methods to access the underlying model.

For example, a computed attribute for full_name could be defined as such:

require 'jsonapi/resource'

class ContactResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name_first, :name_last, :email, :twitter
  attribute :full_name

  def full_name
    "#{@model.name_first}, #{@model.name_last}"
  end
end

Fetchable Attributes

By default all attributes are assumed to be fetchable. The list of fetchable attributes can be filtered by overriding the fetchable_fields method.

Here's an example that prevents guest users from seeing the email field:

class AuthorResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name, :email
  model_name 'Person'
  has_many :posts

  def fetchable_fields
    if (context.current_user.guest)
      super(context) - [:email]
    else
      super(context)
    end
  end
end

Context flows through from the controller and can be used to control the attributes based on the current user (or other value).

Creatable and Updateable Attributes

By default all attributes are assumed to be updateable and creatable. To prevent some attributes from being accepted by the update or create methods, override the self.updateable_fields and self.createable_fields methods on a resource.

This example prevents full_name from being set:

require 'jsonapi/resource'

class ContactResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name_first, :name_last, :full_name

  def full_name
    "#{@model.name_first}, #{@model.name_last}"
  end

  def self.updateable_fields(context)
    super - [:full_name]
  end

  def self.createable_fields(context)
    super - [:full_name]
  end
end

The context is not by default used by the ResourceController, but may be used if you override the controller methods. By using the context you have the option to determine the createable and updateable fields based on the user.

Sortable Attributes

JR supports sorting primary resources by multiple sort criteria.

By default all attributes are assumed to be sortable. To prevent some attributes from being sortable, override the self.sortable_fields method on a resource.

Here's an example that prevents sorting by post's body:

class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id, :title, :body

  def self.sortable_fields(context)
    super(context) - [:body]
  end
end

Attribute Formatting

Attributes can have a Format. By default all attributes use the default formatter. If an attribute has the format option set the system will attempt to find a formatter based on this name. In the following example the last_login_time will be returned formatted to a certain time zone:

class PersonResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name, :email
  attribute :last_login_time, format: :date_with_timezone
end

The system will lookup a value formatter named DateWithTimezoneValueFormatter and will use this when serializing and updating the attribute. See the Value Formatters section for more details.

Primary Key

Resources are always represented using a key of id. If the underlying model does not use id as the primary key you can use the primary_key method to tell the resource which field on the model to use as the primary key. Note: this doesn't have to be the actual primary key of the model. For example you may wish to use integers internally and a different scheme publicly. By default only integer values are allowed for primary key. To change this behavior you can override verify_key class method:

class CurrencyResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  primary_key :code
  attributes :code, :name

  has_many :expense_entries

  def self.verify_key(key, context = nil)
    key && String(key)
  end
end

Model Name

The name of the underlying model is inferred from the Resource name. It can be overridden by use of the model_name method. For example:

class AuthorResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name
  model_name 'Person'
  has_many :posts
end

Associations

Related resources need to be specified in the resource. These are declared with the has_one and the has_many methods.

Here's a simple example where a post has a single author and an author can have many posts:

class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id, :title, :body

  has_one :author
end

And the corresponding author:

class AuthorResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id, :name

  has_many :posts
end

Options

The association methods support the following options:

class_name - a string specifying the underlying class for the related resource
foreign_key - the method on the resource used to fetch the related resource. Defaults to <resource_name>_id for has_one and <resource_name>_ids for has_many relationships.
acts_as_set - allows the entire set of related records to be replaced in one operation. Defaults to false if not set.

Examples:

 class CommentResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :body
  has_one :post
  has_one :author, class_name: 'Person'
  has_many :tags, acts_as_set: true
 end

class ExpenseEntryResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :cost, :transaction_date

  has_one :currency, class_name: 'Currency', foreign_key: 'currency_code'
  has_one :employee
end

Filters

Filters for locating objects of the resource type are specified in the resource definition. Single filters can be declared using the filter method, and multiple filters can be declared with the filters method on the resource class.

For example:

require 'jsonapi/resource'

class ContactResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name_first, :name_last, :email, :twitter

  filter :id
  filters :name_first, :name_last
end

Finders

Basic finding by filters is supported by resources. This is implemented in the find and find_by_key finder methods. Currently this is implemented for ActiveRecord based resources. The finder methods rely on the records method to get an Arel relation. It is therefore possible to override records to affect the three find related methods.

Customizing base records for finder methods

If you need to change the base records on which find and find_by_key operate, you can override the records method on the resource class.

For example to allow a user to only retrieve his own posts you can do the following:

class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id, :title, :body

  def self.records(options = {})
    context = options[:context]
    context.current_user.posts
  end
end

When you create a relationship, a method is created to fetch record(s) for that relationship. This method calls records_for(association_name) by default.

class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  has_one :author
  has_many :comments

  # def record_for_author(options = {})
  #   records_for("author", options)
  # end

  # def records_for_comments(options = {})
  #   records_for("comments", options)
  # end
end

For example, you may want raise an error if the user is not authorized to view the associated records.

class BaseResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  def records_for(association_name, options={})
    context = options[:context]
    records = model.public_send(association_name)

    unless context.current_user.can_view?(records)
      raise NotAuthorizedError
    end

    records
  end
end

Applying Filters

The apply_filter method is called to apply each filter to the Arel relation. You may override this method to gain control over how the filters are applied to the Arel relation.

This example shows how you can implement different approaches for different filters.

def self.apply_filter(records, filter, value)
  case filter
    when :visibility
      records.where('users.publicly_visible = ?', value == :public)
    when :last_name, :first_name, :name
      if value.is_a?(Array)
        value.each do |val|
          records = records.where(_model_class.arel_table[filter].matches(val))
        end
        return records
      else
        records.where(_model_class.arel_table[filter].matches(value))
      end
    else
      return super(records, filter, value)
  end
end

Override finder methods

Finally if you have more complex requirements for finding you can override the find and find_by_key methods on the resource class.

Here's an example that defers the find operation to a current_user set on the context option:

class AuthorResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name
  model_name 'Person'
  has_many :posts

  filter :name

  def self.find(filters, options = {})
    context = options[:context]
    authors = context.current_user.find_authors(filters)

    return authors.map do |author|
      self.new(author)
    end
  end
end

Pagination

Pagination is performed using a paginator, which is a class responsible for parsing the page request parameters and applying the pagination logic to the results.

Paginators

JSONAPI::Resource supports several pagination methods by default, and allows you to implement a custom system if the defaults do not meet your needs.

Paged Paginator

The paged paginator returns results based on pages of a fixed size. Valid page parameters are number and size. If number is omitted the first page is returned. If size is omitted the default_page_size from the configuration settings is used.

Offset Paginator

The offset paginator returns results based on an offset from the beginning of the resultset. Valid page parameters are offset and limit. If offset is omitted a value of 0 will be used. If limit is omitted the default_page_size from the configuration settings is used.

Custom Paginators

Custom paginators can be used. These should derive from Paginator. The apply method takes a relation and is expected to return a relation. The initialize method receives the parameters from the page request parameters. It is up to the paginator author to parse and validate these parameters.

For example, here is a very simple single record at a time paginator:

class SingleRecordPaginator < JSONAPI::Paginator
  def initialize(params)
    # param parsing and validation here
    @page = params.to_i
  end

  def apply(relation)
    relation.offset(@page).limit(1)
  end
end

Paginator Configuration

The default paginator, which will be used for all resources, is set using JSONAPI.configure. For example, in your config/initializers/jsonapi_resources.rb:

JSONAPI.configure do |config|
  # built in paginators are :none, :offset, :cursor, :paged
  config.default_paginator = :offset

  config.default_page_size = 10
  config.maximum_page_size = 20
end

If no default_paginator is configured, pagination will be disabled by default.

Paginators can also be set at the resource-level, which will override the default setting. This is done using the paginator method:

class BookResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :title
  attribute :isbn

  paginator :offset
end

To disable pagination in a resource, specify :none for paginator.

Callbacks

ActiveSupport::Callbacks is used to provide callback functionality, so the behavior is very similar to what you may be used to from ActiveRecord.

For example, you might use a callback to perform authorization on your resource before an action.

class BaseResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  before_create :authorize_create

  def authorize_create
    # ...
  end
end

The types of supported callbacks are:

before
after
around

`JSONAPI::Resource` Callbacks

Callbacks can be defined for the following JSONAPI::Resource events:

:create
:update
:remove
:save
:create_has_many_link
:replace_has_many_links
:create_has_one_link
:replace_has_one_link
:remove_has_many_link
:remove_has_one_link
:replace_fields

`JSONAPI::OperationsProcessor` Callbacks

Callbacks can also be defined for JSONAPI::OperationsProcessor events:

:operations: The set of operations.
:operation: The individual operations.

Controllers

JSONAPI::Resources provides a class, ResourceController, that can be used as the base class for your controllers. ResourceController supports index, show, create, update, and destroy methods. Just deriving your controller from ResourceController will give you a fully functional controller.

For example:

class PeopleController < JSONAPI::ResourceController

end

Of course you are free to extend this as needed and override action handlers or other methods.

The context that's used for serialization and resource configuration is set by the controller's context method.

For example:

class ApplicationController < JSONAPI::ResourceController
  def context
    {current_user: current_user}
  end
end

# Specific resource controllers derive from ApplicationController
# and share its context
class PeopleController < ApplicationController

end

Namespaces

JSONAPI::Resources supports namespacing of controllers and resources. With namespacing you can version your API.

If you namespace your controller it will require a namespaced resource.

In the following example we have a resource that isn't namespaced, and one the has now been namespaced. There are slight differences between the two resources, as might be seen in a new version of an API:

class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attribute :id
  attribute :title
  attribute :body
  attribute :subject

  has_one :author, class_name: 'Person'
  has_one :section
  has_many :tags, acts_as_set: true
  has_many :comments, acts_as_set: false
  def subject
    @model.title
  end

  filters :title, :author, :tags, :comments
  filter :id
end

...

module Api
  module V1
    class PostResource < JSONAPI::Resource
      # V1 replaces the non-namespaced resource
      # V1 no longer supports tags and now calls author 'writer'
      attribute :id
      attribute :title
      attribute :body
      attribute :subject

      has_one :writer, foreign_key: 'author_id'
      has_one :section
      has_many :comments, acts_as_set: false

      def subject
        @model.title
      end

      filters :writer
    end

    class WriterResource < JSONAPI::Resource
      attributes :id, :name, :email
      model_name 'Person'
      has_many :posts

      filter :name
    end
  end
end

The following controllers are used:

class PostsController < JSONAPI::ResourceController
end

module Api
  module V1
    class PostsController < JSONAPI::ResourceController
    end
  end
end

You will also need to namespace your routes:

Rails.application.routes.draw do

  jsonapi_resources :posts

  namespace :api do
    namespace :v1 do
      jsonapi_resources :posts
    end
  end
end

When a namespaced resource is used, any related resources must also be in the same namespace.

Error codes

Error codes are provided for each error object returned, based on the error. These errors are:

module JSONAPI
  VALIDATION_ERROR = 100
  INVALID_RESOURCE = 101
  FILTER_NOT_ALLOWED = 102
  INVALID_FIELD_VALUE = 103
  INVALID_FIELD = 104
  PARAM_NOT_ALLOWED = 105
  PARAM_MISSING = 106
  INVALID_FILTER_VALUE = 107
  COUNT_MISMATCH = 108
  KEY_ORDER_MISMATCH = 109
  KEY_NOT_INCLUDED_IN_URL = 110
  INVALID_INCLUDE = 112
  RELATION_EXISTS = 113
  INVALID_SORT_PARAM = 114
  INVALID_LINKS_OBJECT = 115
  TYPE_MISMATCH = 116
  INVALID_PAGE_OBJECT = 117
  INVALID_PAGE_VALUE = 118
  RECORD_NOT_FOUND = 404
  LOCKED = 423
end

These codes can be customized in your app by creating an initializer to override any or all of the codes.

Serializer

The ResourceSerializer can be used to serialize a resource into JSON API compliant JSON. ResourceSerializer must be initialized with the primary resource type it will be serializing. ResourceSerializer has a serialize_to_hash method that takes a resource instance or array of resource instances to serialize. For example:

require 'jsonapi/resource_serializer'
post = Post.find(1)
JSONAPI::ResourceSerializer.new(PostResource).serialize_to_hash(PostResource.new(post))

This returns results like this:

{
  posts: {
    id: 1,
    title: 'New post',
    body: 'A body!!!',
    links: {
      section: nil,
      author: 1,
      tags: [1,2,3],
      comments: [1,2]
    }
  }
}

serialize_to_hash method options

The serialize_to_hash method also takes some optional parameters:

`include`

An array of resources. Nested resources can be specified with dot notation.

Purpose: determines which objects will be side loaded with the source objects in an included section

Example: include: ['comments','author','comments.tags','author.posts']

`fields`

A hash of resource types and arrays of fields for each resource type.

Purpose: determines which fields are serialized for a resource type. This encompasses both attributes and association ids in the links section for a resource. Fields are global for a resource type.

Example: fields: { people: [:id, :email, :comments], posts: [:id, :title, :author], comments: [:id, :body, :post]}

post = Post.find(1)
JSONAPI::ResourceSerializer.new(PostResource).serialize_to_hash(
  PostResource.new(post),
  include: ['comments','author','comments.tags','author.posts'],
  fields: {
    people: [:id, :email, :comments],
    posts: [:id, :title, :author],
    tags: [:name],
    comments: [:id, :body, :post]
  }
)

`context`

Context data can be provided to the serializer, which passes it to each resource as it is inspected.

Routing

JR has a couple of helper methods available to assist you with setting up routes.

`jsonapi_resources`

Like resources in ActionDispatch, jsonapi_resources provides resourceful routes mapping between HTTP verbs and URLs and controller actions. This will also setup mappings for relationship URLs for a resource's associations. For example:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :contacts
  jsonapi_resources :phone_numbers
end

gives the following routes

                     Prefix Verb      URI Pattern                                               Controller#Action
contact_links_phone_numbers GET       /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers(.:format)       contacts#show_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
                            POST      /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers(.:format)       contacts#create_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
                            DELETE    /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers/:keys(.:format) contacts#destroy_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
      contact_phone_numbers GET       /contacts/:contact_id/phone-numbers(.:format)             phone_numbers#get_related_resources {:association=>"phone_numbers", :source=>"contacts"}
                   contacts GET       /contacts(.:format)                                       contacts#index
                            POST      /contacts(.:format)                                       contacts#create
                new_contact GET       /contacts/new(.:format)                                   contacts#new
               edit_contact GET       /contacts/:id/edit(.:format)                              contacts#edit
                    contact GET       /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#show
                            PATCH     /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#update
                            PUT       /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#update
                            DELETE    /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#destroy
 phone_number_links_contact GET       /phone-numbers/:phone_number_id/links/contact(.:format)   phone_numbers#show_association {:association=>"contact"}
                            PUT|PATCH /phone-numbers/:phone_number_id/links/contact(.:format)   phone_numbers#update_association {:association=>"contact"}
                            DELETE    /phone-numbers/:phone_number_id/links/contact(.:format)   phone_numbers#destroy_association {:association=>"contact"}
       phone_number_contact GET       /phone-numbers/:phone_number_id/contact(.:format)         contacts#get_related_resource {:association=>"contact", :source=>"phone_numbers"}
              phone_numbers GET       /phone-numbers(.:format)                                  phone_numbers#index
                            POST      /phone-numbers(.:format)                                  phone_numbers#create
           new_phone_number GET       /phone-numbers/new(.:format)                              phone_numbers#new
          edit_phone_number GET       /phone-numbers/:id/edit(.:format)                         phone_numbers#edit
               phone_number GET       /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                              phone_numbers#show
                            PATCH     /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                              phone_numbers#update
                            PUT       /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                              phone_numbers#update
                            DELETE    /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                              phone_numbers#destroy

`jsonapi_resource`

Like jsonapi_resources, but for resources you lookup without an id.

Nested Routes

By default nested routes are created for getting related resources and manipulating relationships. You can control the nested routes by passing a block into jsonapi_resources or jsonapi_resource. An empty block will not create any nested routes. For example:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :contacts do
  end
end

gives routes that are only related to the primary resource, and none for its relationships:

      Prefix Verb   URI Pattern                  Controller#Action
    contacts GET    /contacts(.:format)          contacts#index
             POST   /contacts(.:format)          contacts#create
 new_contact GET    /contacts/new(.:format)      contacts#new
edit_contact GET    /contacts/:id/edit(.:format) contacts#edit
     contact GET    /contacts/:id(.:format)      contacts#show
             PATCH  /contacts/:id(.:format)      contacts#update
             PUT    /contacts/:id(.:format)      contacts#update
             DELETE /contacts/:id(.:format)      contacts#destroy

To manually add in the nested routes you can use the jsonapi_links, jsonapi_related_resources and jsonapi_related_resource inside the block. Or, you can add the default set of nested routes using the jsonapi_relationships method. For example:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :contacts do
    jsonapi_relationships
  end
end

`jsonapi_links`

You can add relationship routes in with jsonapi_links, for example:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :contacts do
    jsonapi_links :phone_numbers
  end
end

Gives the following routes:

contact_links_phone_numbers GET    /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers(.:format)       contacts#show_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
                            POST   /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers(.:format)       contacts#create_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
                            DELETE /contacts/:contact_id/links/phone-numbers/:keys(.:format) contacts#destroy_association {:association=>"phone_numbers"}
                   contacts GET    /contacts(.:format)                                       contacts#index
                            POST   /contacts(.:format)                                       contacts#create
                new_contact GET    /contacts/new(.:format)                                   contacts#new
               edit_contact GET    /contacts/:id/edit(.:format)                              contacts#edit
                    contact GET    /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#show
                            PATCH  /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#update
                            PUT    /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#update
                            DELETE /contacts/:id(.:format)                                   contacts#destroy

The new routes allow you to show, create and destroy the associations between resources.

`jsonapi_related_resources`

Creates a nested route to GET the related has_many resources. For example:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :contacts do
    jsonapi_related_resources :phone_numbers
  end
end

gives the following routes:

               Prefix Verb   URI Pattern                                   Controller#Action
contact_phone_numbers GET    /contacts/:contact_id/phone-numbers(.:format) phone_numbers#get_related_resources {:association=>"phone_numbers", :source=>"contacts"}
             contacts GET    /contacts(.:format)                           contacts#index
                      POST   /contacts(.:format)                           contacts#create
          new_contact GET    /contacts/new(.:format)                       contacts#new
         edit_contact GET    /contacts/:id/edit(.:format)                  contacts#edit
              contact GET    /contacts/:id(.:format)                       contacts#show
                      PATCH  /contacts/:id(.:format)                       contacts#update
                      PUT    /contacts/:id(.:format)                       contacts#update
                      DELETE /contacts/:id(.:format)                       contacts#destroy

A single additional route was created to allow you GET the phone numbers through the contact.

`jsonapi_related_resource`

Like jsonapi_related_resources, but for has_one related resources.

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  jsonapi_resources :phone_numbers do
    jsonapi_related_resource :contact
  end
end

gives the following routes:

              Prefix Verb   URI Pattern                                       Controller#Action
phone_number_contact GET    /phone-numbers/:phone_number_id/contact(.:format) contacts#get_related_resource {:association=>"contact", :source=>"phone_numbers"}
       phone_numbers GET    /phone-numbers(.:format)                          phone_numbers#index
                     POST   /phone-numbers(.:format)                          phone_numbers#create
    new_phone_number GET    /phone-numbers/new(.:format)                      phone_numbers#new
   edit_phone_number GET    /phone-numbers/:id/edit(.:format)                 phone_numbers#edit
        phone_number GET    /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                      phone_numbers#show
                     PATCH  /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                      phone_numbers#update
                     PUT    /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                      phone_numbers#update
                     DELETE /phone-numbers/:id(.:format)                      phone_numbers#destroy

Formatting

JR by default uses some simple rules to format an attribute for serialization. Strings and Integers are output to JSON as is, and all other values have .to_s applied to them. This outputs something in all cases, but it is certainly not correct for every situation.

If you want to change the way an attribute is serialized you have a couple of ways. The simplest method is to create a getter method on the resource which overrides the attribute and apply the formatting there. For example:

class PersonResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name, :email
  attribute :last_login_time

  def last_login_time
    @model.last_login_time.in_time_zone(@context[:current_user].time_zone).to_s
  end
end

This is simple to implement for a one off situation, but not for example if you want to apply the same formatting rules to all DateTime fields in your system. Another issue is the attribute on the resource will always return a formatted response, whether you want it or not.

Value Formatters

To overcome the above limitations JR uses Value Formatters. Value Formatters allow you to control the way values are handled for an attribute. The format can be set per attribute as it is declared in the resource. For example:

class PersonResource < JSONAPI::Resource
  attributes :id, :name, :email
  attribute :last_login_time, format: :date_with_timezone
end

A Value formatter has a format and an unformat method. Here's the base ValueFormatter and DefaultValueFormatter for reference:

module JSONAPI
  class ValueFormatter < Formatter
    class << self
      def format(raw_value, context)
        super(raw_value)
      end

      def unformat(value, context)
        super(value)
      end
      ...
    end
  end
end

class DefaultValueFormatter < JSONAPI::ValueFormatter
  class << self
    def format(raw_value, context)
      case raw_value
        when String, Integer
          return raw_value
        else
          return raw_value.to_s
      end
    end
  end
end

You can also create your own Value Formatter. Value Formatters must be named with the format name followed by ValueFormatter, i.e. DateWithTimezoneValueFormatter and derive from JSONAPI::ValueFormatter. It is recommended that you create a directory for your formatters, called formatters.

The format method is called by the ResourceSerializer as is serializing a resource. The format method takes the raw_value, and context parameters. raw_value is the value as read from the model, and context is the context of the current user/request. From this you can base the formatted version of the attribute current context.

The unformat method is called when processing the request. Each incoming attribute (except links) are run through the unformat method. The unformat method takes the value, and context parameters. value is the value as it comes in on the request, and context is the context of the current user/request. This allows you process the incoming value to alter its state before it is stored in the model. By default no processing is applied.

Use a Different Default Value Formatter

Another way to handle formatting is to set a different default value formatter. This will affect all attributes that do not have a format set. You can do this by overriding the default_attribute_options method for a resource (or a base resource for a system wide change).

  def default_attribute_options
    {format: :my_default}
  end

and

class MyDefaultValueFormatter < JSONAPI::ValueFormatter
  class << self
    def format(raw_value, context)
      case raw_value
        when String, Integer
          return raw_value
        when DateTime
          return raw_value.in_time_zone(context[:current_user].time_zone).to_s
        else
          return raw_value.to_s
      end
    end
  end
end

This way all DateTime values will be formatted to display in the specified timezone.

Key Format

By default JR uses dasherized keys as per the JSON API naming recommendations. This can be changed by specifying a different key formatter.

For example, to use camel cased keys with an initial lowercase character (JSON's default) create an initializer and add the following:

JSONAPI.configure do |config|
  # built in key format options are :underscored_key, :camelized_key and :dasherized_key
  config.json_key_format = :camelized_key
end

This will cause the serializer to use the CamelizedKeyFormatter. You can also create your own KeyFormatter, for example:

class UpperCamelizedKeyFormatter < JSONAPI::KeyFormatter
  class << self
    def format(key)
      super.camelize(:upper)
    end
  end
end

You would specify this in JSONAPI.configure as :upper_camelized.

Contributing

Fork it ( http://github.com/cerebris/jsonapi-resources/fork )
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
Create a new Pull Request

JSONAPI::Resources

Demo App

Client Libraries

Installation

Usage

Resources

JSONAPI::Resource

Attributes

Fetchable Attributes

Creatable and Updateable Attributes

Sortable Attributes

Attribute Formatting

Primary Key

Model Name

Associations

Options

Filters

Finders

Customizing base records for finder methods

Applying Filters

Override finder methods

Pagination

Paginators

Paged Paginator

Offset Paginator

Custom Paginators

Paginator Configuration

Callbacks

JSONAPI::Resource Callbacks

JSONAPI::OperationsProcessor Callbacks

Controllers

Namespaces

Error codes

Serializer

serialize_to_hash method options

include

fields

context

Routing

jsonapi_resources

jsonapi_resource

Nested Routes

jsonapi_links

jsonapi_related_resources

jsonapi_related_resource

Formatting

Value Formatters

Use a Different Default Value Formatter

Key Format

Contributing

License

About

Languages

`JSONAPI::Resource` Callbacks

`JSONAPI::OperationsProcessor` Callbacks

`include`

`fields`

`context`

`jsonapi_resources`

`jsonapi_resource`

`jsonapi_links`

`jsonapi_related_resources`

`jsonapi_related_resource`