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Representable

Representable API

Last updated 05 May 2017 representable v3.0

Representable API

In Representable, we differentiate between three APIs.

The declarative API is how we define representers. You can learn how to use those representers by reading about the very brief public API. Representable is extendable without having to hack existing code: the function API documents how to use its options to achieve what you need.

Declarative API

To render objects to documents or parse documents to objects, you need to define a representer.

A representer can either be a class (called decorator) or a module (called representer module). Throughout the docs, we will use decorators as they are cleaner and faster, but keep in mind you can also use modules.

require 'representable/json'

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title
end

A representer simply defines the fields that will be mapped to the document using property or collection. You can then decorate an object and render or parse. Here’s an example.

# Given a Struct like this
Song = Struct.new(:id, :title) #=> Song

# You can instantiate it with the following
song = Song.new(1, "Fallout") #=> #<struct Song id=1, title="Fallout">

# This object doesn't know how to represent itself in JSON
song.to_json #=> NoMethodError: undefined method `to_json'

# But you can decorate it with the above defined representer
song_representer = SongRepresenter.new(song)

# Relax and let the representer do its job
song_representer.to_json #=> {"id":1,"title":"Fallout"}

The details are being discussed in the public API section.

Representer Modules

Instead of using classes as representers, you can also leverage modules which will then get mixed into the represented object.

A representer module is also a good way to share configuration and logic across decorators.

module SongRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title
end

The API in a module representer is identical to decorators. However, the way you apply them is different.

song.extend(SongRepresenter).to_json #=> {"id":1,"title":"Fallout"}

There’s two drawbacks with this approach.

  1. You pollute the represented object with the imported representer methods (e.g. to_json).
  2. Extending an object at run-time is costly and with many extends there will be a notable performance decrease.

Throughout this documentation, we will use decorator as examples to encourage this cleaner and faster approach.

Collections

Not everything is a scalar value. Sometimes an object’s property can be a collection of values. Use collection to represent arrays.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title
  collection :composer_ids
end

The new collection composer_ids has to be enumeratable object, like an array.

Song = Struct.new(:id, :title, :composer_ids)
song = Song.new(1, "Fallout", [2, 3])

song_representer = SongRepresenter.new(song)
song_representer.to_json #=> {"id":1,"title":"Fallout","composer_ids":[2,3]}

Of course, this works also for parsing. The incoming composer_ids will override the old collection on the represented object.

Nesting

Representable can also handle compositions of objects. This works for both property and collection.

For example, a song could nest an artist object.

Song   = Struct.new(:id, :title, :artist)
Artist = Struct.new(:id, :name)

artist = Artist.new(2, "The Police")
song   = Song.new(1, "Fallout", artist)

Here’s a better view of that object graph.

#<struct Song
  id=1,
  title="Fallout",
  artist=#<struct Artist
    id=2,
    name="The Police">>

Inline Representer

The easiest way to nest representers is by using an inline representer.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title

  property :artist do
    property :id
    property :name
  end
end

Note that you can have any levels of nesting.

Explicit Representer

Sometimes you want to compose two existing, stand-alone representers.

class ArtistRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :name
end

To maximize reusability of representers, you can reference a nested representer using the :decorator option.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title

  property :artist, decorator: ArtistRepresenter
end

This is identical to an inline representer, but allows you to reuse ArtistRepresenter elsewhere.

Note that the :extend and :decorator options are identical. They can both reference a decorator or a module.

Nested Rendering

Regardless of the representer types you use, rendering will result in a nested document.

SongRepresenter.new(song).to_json
#=> {"id":1,"title":"Fallout","artist":{"id":2,"name":"The Police"}}

Nested Parsing

When parsing, per default Representable will want to instantiate an object for every nested, typed fragment.

You have to tell Representable what object to instantiate for the nested artist: fragment.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  # ..
  property :artist, decorator: ArtistRepresenter, class: Artist
end

This happens via the :class option. Now, the document can be parsed and a nested Artist will be created by the parsing.

song = Song.new # nothing set.

SongRepresenter.new(song).
  from_json('{"id":1,"title":"Fallout","artist":{"id":2,"name":"The Police"}}')

song.artist.name #=> "The Police"

The default behavior is - admittedly - very primitive. Representable’s parsing allow rich mapping, object creation and runtime checks. Read about populators to learn how that works.

Document Nesting

Not always does the structure of the desired document map to your objects. The ::nested method allows structuring properties within a separate section while still mapping the properties to the outer object.

Imagine the following document. json_fragment = «END {“title”: “Roxanne”, “details”: {“track”: 3, “length”: “4:10”} } END

However, in the Song class, there’s no such concept as details.

Song = Struct.new(:title, :track, :length)

song = Song.new #=> #<struct Song title=nil, track=nil, length=nil>

Both track and length are properties of the song object itself. Representable gives you ::nested to map the virtual details section to the song instance.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :title

  nested :details do
    property :track
    property :length
  end
end

song_representer = SongRepresenter.new(song)
song_representer.from_json(json_fragment)

Accessors for the nested properties will still be called on the song object. And as always, this works both ways - for rendering and parsing.

Wrapping

You can automatically wrap a document.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  self.representation_wrap= :song

  property :title
  property :id
end

This will add a container for rendering and parsing.

SongRepresenter.new(song).to_json
#=> {"song":{"title":"Fallout","id":1}}

Setting self.representation_wrap = true will advice representable to figure out the wrap itself by inspecting the represented object class.

Note that representation_wrap is a dynamic function option.

self.representation_wrap = ->(user_options:) { user_options[:my_wrap] }

This would allow to provide the wrap manually.

song_representer.to_json(user_options: { my_wrap: "hit" })

Suppressing Nested Wraps

When reusing a representer for a nested document, you might want to suppress its representation_wrap= for the nested fragment.

Reusing SongRepresenter from the last section in a nested setup allows suppressing the wrap via the :wrap option.

class AlbumRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  collection :songs,
    decorator: SongRepresenter, # SongRepresenter defines representation_wrap.
    wrap:      false            # turn off :song wrap.
end

The representation_wrap from the nested representer now won’t be rendered or parsed…

Album = Struct.new(:songs)
album = Album.new
album.songs = [song]
AlbumRepresenter.new(album).to_json

.. and will result in:

{"songs":[{"title":"Fallout","id":1}]}

Otherwise it would respect the representation_wrap= set in the nested decorator (SongRepresenter) and will render:

{"songs":[{"song":{"title":"Fallout","id":1}}]}

Note that this only works for JSON and Hash at the moment.

Inheritance

Properties can be inherited across representer classes and modules.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
  property :title
end

What if you need a refined representer to also add the artist. Use inheritance.

class SongWithArtistRepresenter < SongRepresenter
  property :artist do
    property :name
  end
end

All configuration from SongRepresenter will be inherited, making the properties on SongWithArtistRepresenter: id, title, and artist. The original SongRepresenter will stay as it is.

Artist         = Struct.new(:name)
SongWithArtist = Struct.new(:id, :title, :artist)

artist           = Artist.new("Ivan Lins")
song_with_artist = SongWithArtist.new(1, "Novo Tempo", artist)

# Using the same object with the two representers
song_representer             = SongRepresenter.new(song_with_artist)
song_with_artist_representer = SongWithArtistRepresenter.new(song_with_artist)

song_representer.to_json
#=> {"id":1,"title":"Novo Tempo"}

song_with_artist_representer.to_json
#=> {"id":1,"title":"Novo Tempo","artist":{"name":"Ivan Lins"}}

Composition

You can also use modules and decorators together to compose representers.

module GenericRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :id
end

This can be included in other representers and will extend their configuration.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include GenericRepresenter

  property :title
end

As a result, SongRepresenter will contain the good old id and title property.

Overriding Properties

You might want to override a particular property in an inheriting representer. Successively calling property(name) will override the former definition - exactly as you know it from overriding methods in Ruby.

class CoverSongRepresenter < SongRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :title, as: :name # overrides that definition.
end

Partly Overriding Properties

Instead of fully replacing a property, you can extend it with :inherit. This will add your new options and override existing options in case the one you provided already existed.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :title, as: :name, render_nil: true
end

You can now inherit properties but still override or add options.

class CoverSongRepresenter < SongRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :title, as: :songTitle, default: "n/a", inherit: true
end

Using the :inherit, this will result in a property having the following options.

property :title,
  as:         :songTitle, # overridden in CoverSongRepresenter.
  render_nil: true        # inherited from SongRepresenter.
  default:    "n/a"       # defined in CoverSongRepresenter.

The :inherit option works for both inheritance and module composition.

Inherit With Inline Representers

:inherit also works applied with inline representers.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  property :title
  property :artist do
    property :name
  end
end

You can now override or add properties within the inline representer.

class HitRepresenter < SongRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :artist, inherit: true do
    property :email
  end
end

Results in a combined inline representer as it inherits.

property :artist do
  property :name
  property :email
end

Naturally, :inherit can be used within the inline representer block.

Note that the following also works.

class HitRepresenter < SongRepresenter
  include Representable::JSON

  property :artist, as: :composer, inherit: true
end

This renames the property but still inherits all the inlined configuration.

Basically, :inherit copies the configuration from the parent property, then merges in your options from the inheriting representer. It exposes the same behaviour as super in Ruby - when using :inherit the property must exist in the parent representer.

Feature

If you need to include modules in all inline representers automatically, register it as a feature.

class AlbumRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON
  feature Link # imports ::link

  link "/album/1"

  property :hit do
    link "/hit/1" # link method imported automatically.
  end

Nested representers will include the provided module automatically.

Execution Context

Readers and Writers for properties will usually be called on the represented object. If you want to change that, so the accessors get called on the decorator instead, use :exec_context.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  property :title, exec_context: :decorator

  def title
    represented.name
  end
end

Callable Options

While lambdas are one option for dynamic options, you might also pass a “callable” object to a directive.

class Sanitizer
  include Uber::Callable

  def call(represented, fragment, doc, *args)
    fragment.sanitize
  end
end

Note how including Uber::Callable marks instances of this class as callable. No respond_to? or other magic takes place here.

property :title, parse_filter: Santizer.new

This is enough to have the Sanitizer class run with all the arguments that are usually passed to the lambda (preceded by the represented object as first argument).

Read/Write Restrictions

Using the :readable and :writeable options access to properties can be restricted.

property :title, readable: false

This will leave out the title property in the rendered document. Vice-versa, :writeable will skip the property when parsing and does not assign it.

Coercion

If you need coercion when parsing a document you can use the Coercion module which uses virtus for type conversion.

Include Virtus in your Gemfile, first.

gem 'virtus', ">= 0.5.0"

Use the :type option to specify the conversion target. Note that :default still works.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON
  include Representable::Coercion

  property :recorded_at, type: DateTime, default: "May 12th, 2012"
end

Coercing values only happens when rendering or parsing a document. Representable does not create accessors in your model as virtus does.

Note that we think coercion in the representer is wrong, and should happen on the underlying object. We have a rich coercion/constraint API for twins.

Symbol Keys

When parsing, Representable reads properties from hashes using their string keys.

song.from_hash("title" => "Road To Never")

To allow symbol keys also include the AllowSymbols module.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::Hash
  include Representable::Hash::AllowSymbols
  # ..
end

This will give you a behavior close to Rails’ HashWithIndifferentAccess by stringifying the incoming hash internally.

Defaults

The defaults method allows setting options that will be applied to all property definitions of a representer.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  defaults render_nil: true

  property :id
  property :title
end

This will include render_nil: true in both id and title definitions, as if you’d provided that option each time.

You can also have dynamic option computation at compile-time.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  defaults do |name, options|
    { as: name.camelize }
  end

The options hash combines the user’s and Representable computed options.

property :id, skip: true

defaults do |name, options|
  options[:skip] ? { as: name.camelize } : {}
end

Note that the dynamic defaults block always has to return a hash.

Combining those two forms also works.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON

  defaults render_nil: true do |name|
    { as: name.camelize }
  end

All defaults are inherited to subclasses or including modules.

Standalone Hash

If it’s required to represent a bare hash object, use Representable::JSON::Hash instead of Representable::JSON.

This is sometimes called a lonely hash.

require "representable/json/hash"

class SongsRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON::Hash
end

You can then use this hash decorator on instances of Hash.

hash = {"Nick" => "Hyper Music", "El" => "Blown In The Wind"}
SongsRepresenter.new(hash).to_json
#=> {"Nick":"Hyper Music","El":"Blown In The Wind"}

This works both ways.

A lonely hash starts to make sense especially when the values are nested objects that need to be represented, too. You can configure the nested value objects using the values method. This works exactly as if you were defining an inline representer, accepting the same options.

class SongsRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON::Hash

  values class: Song do
    property :title
  end
end

You can now represents nested objects in the hash, both rendering and parsing-wise.

hash = {"Nick" => Song.new("Hyper Music")}
SongsRepresenter.new(hash).to_json

In XML, use XML::Hash. If you want to store hash attributes in tag attributes instead of dedicated nodes, use XML::AttributeHash.

Standalone Collection

Likewise, you can represent lonely collections, instances of Array.

require "representable/json/collection"

class SongsRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON::Collection

  items class: Song do
    property :title
  end
end

Here, you define how to represent items in the collection using items.

Note that the items can be simple scalar values or deeply nested objects.

ary = [Song.new("Hyper Music"), Song.new("Screenager")]
SongsRepresenter.new(ary).to_json
#=> [{"title":"Hyper Music"},{"title":"Screenager"}]

Note that this also works for XML.

Standalone Collection: to_a

Another trick to represent collections is using a normal representer with exactly one collection property named to_a.

class SongsRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON # note that this is a plain representer.

  collection :to_a, class: Song do
    property :title
  end
end

You can use this representer the way you already know and appreciate, but directly on an array.

ary = []
SongsRepresenter.new(ary).from_json('[{"title": "Screenager"}]')

In order to grab the collection for rendering or parsing, Representable will now call array.to_a, which returns the array itself.

Automatic Collection Representer

Instead of explicitly defining representers for collections using a “lonely collection”, you can let Representable do that for you.

You define a singular representer, Representable will infer the collection representer.

Rendering a collection of objects comes for free, using for_collection.

songs = Song.all
SongRepresenter.for_collection.new(songs).to_json
#=> '[{"title": "Sevens"}, {"title": "Eric"}]'

SongRepresenter.for_collection will return a collection representer class.

For parsing, you need to provide the class for the nested items. This happens via collection_representer in the representer class.

class SongRepresenter < Representable::Decorator
  include Representable::JSON
  property :title

  collection_representer class: Song
end

You can now parse collections to Song instances.

json  = '[{"title": "Sevens"}, {"title": "Eric"}]'

SongRepresenter.for_collection.new([]).from_json(json)

Note: the implicit collection representer internally is implemented using a lonely collection. Everything you pass to ::collection_representer is simply provided to the ::items call in the lonely collection. That allows you to use :populator and all the other goodies, too.

Automatic Singular and Collection

In case you don’t want to know whether or not you’re working with a collection or singular model, use represent.

# singular
SongRepresenter.represent(Song.find(1)).to_json
#=> '{"title": "Sevens"}'

# collection
SongRepresenter.represent(Song.all).to_json
#=> '[{"title": "Sevens"}, {"title": "Eric"}]' ```

represent figures out the correct representer for you. This works for parsing, too.

Public API

When decorating an object with a representer, the object needs to provide readers for every defined property - and writers, if you’re planning to parse.

Accessors

In our small SongRepresenter example, the represented object has to provide #id and #title for rendering.

Song = Struct.new(:id, :title)
song = Song.new(1, "Fallout")

Rendering

You can render the document by decorating the object and calling the serializer method.

SongRepresenter.new(song).to_json #=> {"id":1, title":"Fallout"}

When rendering, the document fragment is read from the represented object using the getter (e.g. Song#id).

Since we use Representable::JSON the serializer method is #to_json.

For other format engines the serializer method will have the following name.

  • Representable::JSON#to_json
  • Representable::JSON#to_hash (provides a hash instead of string)
  • Representable::Hash#to_hash
  • Representable::XML#to_xml
  • Representable::YAML#to_yaml

Parsing

Likewise, parsing will read values from the document and write them to the represented object.

song = Song.new
SongRepresenter.new(song).from_json('{"id":1, "title":"Fallout"}')
song.id    #=> 1
song.title #=> "Fallout"

When parsing, the read fragment is written to the represented object using the setter (e.g. Song#id=).

For other format engines, the deserializing method is named analogue to the serializing counterpart, where to becomes from. For example, Representable::XML#from_xml will parse XML if the format engine is mixed into the representer.

User Options

You can provide options when representing an object using the user_options: option.

song_representer.to_json(user_options: { is_admin: true })

Note that the :user_options will be accessible on all levels in a nested representer. They act like a “global” configuration and are passed to all option functions.

Here’s an example where the :if option function evaluates a dynamic user option.

property :id, if: ->(options) { options[:user_options][:is_admin] }

This property is now only rendered or parsed when :is_admin is true.

Using Ruby 2.1’s keyword arguments is highly recommended - to make that look a bit nicer.

property :id, if: ->(user_options:, **) { user_options[:is_admin] }

Nested User Options

Representable also allows passing nested options to particular representers. You have to provide the property’s name to do so.

song_representer.to_json(artist: { user_options: { is_admin: true } })

This will pass the option to the nested artist, only. Note that this works with any level of nesting.

Include and Exclude

Representable supports two top-level options.

:include allows defining a set of properties to represent. The remaining will be skipped.

song_representer.to_json(include: [:id])  #=> {"id":1}

The other, :exclude, will - you might have guessed it already - skip the provided properties and represent the remaining.

song_representer.to_json(exclude: [:id, :artist])
#=> {"title":"Fallout"}

As always, these options work both ways, for rendering and parsing.

Note that you can also nest :include and :exclude.

song_representer.to_json(artist: { include: [:name] })
#=> {"id":1, "title":"Fallout", "artist":{"name":"Sting"}}

to_hash and from_hash