[Back to Guides](../README.md) # How to migrate from `0.8` to `0.10` safely ## Disclaimer ### Proceed at your own risk This document attempts to outline steps to upgrade your app based on the collective experience of developers who have done this already. It may not cover all edge cases and situations that may cause issues, so please proceed with a certain level of caution. ## Overview This document outlines the steps needed to migrate from `0.8` to `0.10`. The method described below has been created via the collective knowledge of contributions of those who have done the migration successfully. The method has been tested specifically for migrating from `0.8.3` to `0.10.2`. The high level approach is to upgrade to `0.10` and change all serializers to use a backwards-compatible `ActiveModel::V08::Serializer`or `ActiveModel::V08::CollectionSerializer` and a `ActiveModelSerializers::Adapter::V08Adapter`. After a few more manual changes, you should have the same functionality as you had with `AMS 0.8`. Then, you can continue to develop in your app by creating new serializers that don't use these backwards compatible versions and slowly migrate existing serializers to the `0.10` versions as needed. ### `0.10` breaking changes - Passing a serializer to `render json:` is no longer supported ```ruby render json: CustomerSerializer.new(customer) # rendered in 0.8, errors in 0.10 ``` - Passing a nil resource to serializer now fails ```ruby CustomerSerializer.new(nil) # returned nil in 0.8, throws error in 0.10 ``` - Attribute methods are no longer defined on the serializer, and must be explicitly accessed through `object` ```ruby class MySerializer attributes :foo, :bar def foo bar + 1 # bar does not work, needs to be object.bar in 0.10 end end ``` - `root` option to collection serializer behaves differently ```ruby # in 0.8 ActiveModel::ArraySerializer.new(resources, root: "resources") # resulted in { "resources": }, does not work in 0.10 ``` - No default serializer when serializer doesn't exist - `@options` changed to `instance_options` - Nested relationships are no longer walked by default. Use the `:include` option at **controller `render`** level to specify what relationships to walk. E.g. `render json: @post, include: {comments: :author}` if you want the `author` relationship walked, otherwise the json would only include the post with comments. See: https://github.com/rails-api/active_model_serializers/pull/1127 - To emulate `0.8`'s walking of arbitrarily deep relationships use: `include: '**'`. E.g. `render json: @post, include: '**'` ## Steps to migrate ### 1. Upgrade the `active_model_serializer` gem in you `Gemfile` Change to `gem 'active_model_serializers', '~> 0.10'` and run `bundle install` ### 2. Add `ActiveModel::V08::Serializer` ```ruby module ActiveModel module V08 class Serializer < ActiveModel::Serializer include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers # AMS 0.8 would delegate method calls from within the serializer to the # object. def method_missing(*args) method = args.first read_attribute_for_serialization(method) end alias_method :options, :instance_options # Since attributes could be read from the `object` via `method_missing`, # the `try` method did not behave as before. This patches `try` with the # original implementation plus the addition of # ` || object.respond_to?(a.first, true)` to check if the object responded to # the given method. def try(*a, &b) if a.empty? || respond_to?(a.first, true) || object.respond_to?(a.first, true) try!(*a, &b) end end # AMS 0.8 would return nil if the serializer was initialized with a nil # resource. def serializable_hash(adapter_options = nil, options = {}, adapter_instance = self.class.serialization_adapter_instance) object.nil? ? nil : super end end end end ``` Add this class to your app however you see fit. This is the class that your existing serializers that inherit from `ActiveMode::Serializer` should inherit from. ### 3. Add `ActiveModel::V08::CollectionSerializer` ```ruby module ActiveModel module V08 class CollectionSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer::CollectionSerializer # In AMS 0.8, passing an ArraySerializer instance with a `root` option # properly nested the serialized resources within the given root. # Ex. # # class MyController < ActionController::Base # def index # render json: ActiveModel::Serializer::ArraySerializer # .new(resources, root: "resources") # end # end # # Produced # # { # "resources": [ # , # ... # ] # } def as_json(options = {}) if root { root => super } else super end end # AMS 0.8 used `DefaultSerializer` if it couldn't find a serializer for # the given resource. When not using an adapter, this is not true in # `0.10` def serializer_from_resource(resource, serializer_context_class, options) serializer_class = options.fetch(:serializer) { serializer_context_class.serializer_for(resource) } if serializer_class.nil? # rubocop:disable Style/GuardClause DefaultSerializer.new(resource, options) else serializer_class.new(resource, options.except(:serializer)) end end class DefaultSerializer attr_reader :object, :options def initialize(object, options={}) @object, @options = object, options end def serializable_hash @object.as_json(@options) end end end end end ``` Add this class to your app however you see fit. This is the class that existing uses of `ActiveModel::ArraySerializer` should be changed to use. ### 4. Add `ActiveModelSerializers::Adapter::V08Adapter` ```ruby module ActiveModelSerializers module Adapter class V08Adapter < ActiveModelSerializers::Adapter::Base def serializable_hash(options = nil) options ||= {} if serializer.respond_to?(:each) if serializer.root delegate_to_json_adapter(options) else serializable_hash_for_collection(options) end else serializable_hash_for_single_resource(options) end end def serializable_hash_for_collection(options) serializer.map do |s| V08Adapter.new(s, instance_options) .serializable_hash(options) end end def serializable_hash_for_single_resource(options) if serializer.object.is_a?(ActiveModel::Serializer) # It is recommended that you add some logging here to indicate # places that should get converted to eventually allow for this # adapter to get removed. @serializer = serializer.object end if serializer.root delegate_to_json_adapter(options) else options = serialization_options(options) serializer.serializable_hash(instance_options, options, self) end end def delegate_to_json_adapter(options) ActiveModelSerializers::Adapter::Json .new(serializer, instance_options) .serializable_hash(options) end end end end ``` Add this class to your app however you see fit. Add ```ruby ActiveModelSerializers.config.adapter = ActiveModelSerializers::Adapter::V08Adapter ``` to `config/active_model_serializer.rb` to configure AMS to use this class as the default adapter. ### 5. Change inheritors of `ActiveModel::Serializer` to inherit from `ActiveModel::V08::Serializer` Simple find/replace ### 6. Remove `private` keyword from serializers Simple find/replace. This is required to allow the `ActiveModel::V08::Serializer` to have proper access to the methods defined in the serializer. You may be able to change the `private` to `protected`, but this is hasn't been tested yet. ### 7. Remove references to `ActiveRecord::Base#active_model_serializer` This method is no longer supported in `0.10`. `0.10` does a good job of discovering serializers for `ActiveRecord` objects. ### 8. Rename `ActiveModel::ArraySerializer` to `ActiveModel::V08::CollectionSerializer` Find/replace uses of `ActiveModel::ArraySerializer` with `ActiveModel::V08::CollectionSerializer`. Also, be sure to change the `each_serializer` keyword to `serializer` when calling making the replacement. ### 9. Replace uses of `@options` to `instance_options` in serializers Simple find/replace ## Conclusion After you've done the steps above, you should test your app to ensure that everything is still working properly. If you run into issues, please contribute back to this document so others can benefit from your knowledge.