Class JSONAPISerializer

public

Defined in: ../serializer/src/json-api.js:12

Since: v1.13.0

⚠️ This is LEGACY documentation for a feature that is no longer encouraged to be used. If starting a new app or thinking of implementing a new adapter, consider writing a Handler instead to be used with the RequestManager

In EmberData a Serializer is used to serialize and deserialize records when they are transferred in and out of an external source. This process involves normalizing property names, transforming attribute values and serializing relationships.

JSONAPISerializer supports the http://jsonapi.org/ spec and is the serializer recommended by Ember Data.

This serializer normalizes a JSON API payload that looks like:

app/models/player.js

 import Model, { attr, belongsTo } from '@ember-data/model';

 export default class Player extends Model {
   @attr('string') name;
   @attr('string') skill;
   @attr('number') gamesPlayed;
   @belongsTo('club') club;
 }

app/models/club.js

 import Model, { attr, hasMany } from '@ember-data/model';

 export default class Club extends Model {
   @attr('string') name;
   @attr('string') location;
   @hasMany('player') players;
 }

   {
     "data": [
       {
         "attributes": {
           "name": "Benfica",
           "location": "Portugal"
         },
         "id": "1",
         "relationships": {
           "players": {
             "data": [
               {
                 "id": "3",
                 "type": "players"
               }
             ]
           }
         },
         "type": "clubs"
       }
     ],
     "included": [
       {
         "attributes": {
           "name": "Eusebio Silva Ferreira",
           "skill": "Rocket shot",
           "games-played": 431
         },
         "id": "3",
         "relationships": {
           "club": {
             "data": {
               "id": "1",
               "type": "clubs"
             }
           }
         },
         "type": "players"
       }
     ]
   }

to the format that the Ember Data store expects.

### Customizing meta

Since a JSON API Document can have meta defined in multiple locations you can use the specific serializer hooks if you need to customize the meta.

One scenario would be to camelCase the meta keys of your payload. The example below shows how this could be done using normalizeArrayResponse and extractRelationship.

app/serializers/application.js

 import JSONAPISerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json-api';

 export default class ApplicationSerializer extends JSONAPISerializer {
   normalizeArrayResponse(store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) {
     let normalizedDocument = super.normalizeArrayResponse(...arguments);

     // Customize document meta
     normalizedDocument.meta = camelCaseKeys(normalizedDocument.meta);

     return normalizedDocument;
   }

   extractRelationship(relationshipHash) {
     let normalizedRelationship = super.extractRelationship(...arguments);

     // Customize relationship meta
     normalizedRelationship.meta = camelCaseKeys(normalizedRelationship.meta);

     return normalizedRelationship;
   }
 }

@mainName @ember-data/serializer/json-api @tag main

Show: Inherited Protected Private Deprecated

extractAttributes (modelClass, resourceHash) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:645

modelClass: Object
resourceHash: Object
returns: Object

Returns the resource's attributes formatted as a JSON-API "attributes object".

http://jsonapi.org/format/#document-resource-object-attributes

extractErrors (store, typeClass, payload, id) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1392

store: Store
typeClass: Model
payload: Object
id: (String|Number)
returns: Object; json The deserialized errors

extractErrors is used to extract model errors when a call to Model#save fails with an InvalidError. By default Ember Data expects error information to be located on the errors property of the payload object.

This serializer expects this errors object to be an Array similar to the following, compliant with the https://jsonapi.org/format/#errors specification:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "detail": "This username is already taken!",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "data/attributes/username"
      }
    }, {
      "detail": "Doesn't look like a valid email.",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "data/attributes/email"
      }
    }
  ]
}

The key detail provides a textual description of the problem. Alternatively, the key title can be used for the same purpose.

The nested keys source.pointer detail which specific element of the request data was invalid.

Note that JSON-API also allows for object-level errors to be placed in an object with pointer data, signifying that the problem cannot be traced to a specific attribute:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "detail": "Some generic non property error message",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "data"
      }
    }
  ]
}

When turn into a Errors object, you can read these errors through the property base:

{{#each @model.errors.base as |error|}}
  <div class="error">
    {{error.message}}
  </div>
{{/each}}

Example of alternative implementation, overriding the default behavior to deal with a different format of errors:

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  extractErrors(store, typeClass, payload, id) {
    if (payload && typeof payload === 'object' && payload._problems) {
      payload = payload._problems;
      this.normalizeErrors(typeClass, payload);
    }
    return payload;
  }
}

extractId (modelClass, resourceHash) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:630

modelClass: Object
resourceHash: Object
returns: String

Returns the resource's ID.

extractMeta (store, modelClass, payload) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1357

store: Store
modelClass: Model
payload: Object

extractMeta is used to deserialize any meta information in the adapter payload. By default Ember Data expects meta information to be located on the meta property of the payload object.

Example

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  extractMeta(store, typeClass, payload) {
    if (payload && payload.hasOwnProperty('_pagination')) {
      let meta = payload._pagination;
      delete payload._pagination;
      return meta;
    }
  }
}

extractPolymorphicRelationship (relationshipModelName, relationshipHash, relationshipOptions) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:705

relationshipModelName: Object
relationshipHash: Object
relationshipOptions: Object
returns: Object

Returns a polymorphic relationship formatted as a JSON-API "relationship object".

http://jsonapi.org/format/#document-resource-object-relationships

relationshipOptions is a hash which contains more information about the polymorphic relationship which should be extracted:

resourceHash complete hash of the resource the relationship should be extracted from
relationshipKey key under which the value for the relationship is extracted from the resourceHash
relationshipMeta meta information about the relationship

extractRelationship (relationshipModelName, relationshipHash) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:670

relationshipModelName: Object
relationshipHash: Object
returns: Object

Returns a relationship formatted as a JSON-API "relationship object".

http://jsonapi.org/format/#document-resource-object-relationships

extractRelationships (modelClass, resourceHash) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:729

modelClass: Object
resourceHash: Object
returns: Object

Returns the resource's relationships formatted as a JSON-API "relationships object".

http://jsonapi.org/format/#document-resource-object-relationships

keyForAttribute (key, method) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1527

key: String
method: String
returns: String; normalized key

keyForAttribute can be used to define rules for how to convert an attribute name in your model to a key in your JSON.

Example

app/serializers/application.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';
import { underscore } from '<app-name>/utils/string-utils';

export default class ApplicationSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  keyForAttribute(attr, method) {
    return underscore(attr).toUpperCase();
  }
}

keyForLink (key, kind) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1583

key: String
kind: String; belongsTo or hasMany
returns: String; normalized key

keyForLink can be used to define a custom key when deserializing link properties.

keyForRelationship (key, typeClass, method) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1554

key: String
typeClass: String
method: String
returns: String; normalized key

keyForRelationship can be used to define a custom key when serializing and deserializing relationship properties. By default JSONSerializer does not provide an implementation of this method.

Example

app/serializers/post.js

  import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';
  import { underscore } from '<app-name>/utils/string-utils';

  export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
    keyForRelationship(key, relationship, method) {
      return `rel_${underscore(key)}`;
    }
  }

modelNameFromPayloadKey (key) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:801

key: String
returns: String; the model's modelName

Dasherizes the model name in the payload

normalize (typeClass, hash) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from Serializer ../packages/serializer/src/index.ts:242

typeClass: Model
hash: Object
returns: Object

The normalize method is used to convert a payload received from your external data source into the normalized form store.push() expects. You should override this method, munge the hash and return the normalized payload.

Example:

Serializer.extend({
  normalize(modelClass, resourceHash) {
    let data = {
      id:            resourceHash.id,
      type:          modelClass.modelName,
      attributes:    resourceHash
    };
    return { data: data };
  }
})

normalizeArrayResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:495

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

normalizeQueryResponse, normalizeFindManyResponse, and normalizeFindHasManyResponse delegate to this method by default.

normalizeCreateRecordResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:405

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is createRecord

normalizeDeleteRecordResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:423

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is deleteRecord

normalizeFindAllResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:315

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is findAll

normalizeFindBelongsToResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:333

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is findBelongsTo

normalizeFindHasManyResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:351

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is findHasMany

normalizeFindManyResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:369

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is findMany

normalizeFindRecordResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:279

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is findRecord

normalizeQueryRecordResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:297

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is queryRecord

normalizeQueryResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:387

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is query

normalizeResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from Serializer ../packages/serializer/src/index.ts:164

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

The normalizeResponse method is used to normalize a payload from the server to a JSON-API Document.

http://jsonapi.org/format/#document-structure

Example:

Serializer.extend({
  normalizeResponse(store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) {
    if (requestType === 'findRecord') {
      return this.normalize(primaryModelClass, payload);
    } else {
      return payload.reduce(function(documentHash, item) {
        let { data, included } = this.normalize(primaryModelClass, item);
        documentHash.included.push(...included);
        documentHash.data.push(data);
        return documentHash;
      }, { data: [], included: [] })
    }
  }
});

normalizeSaveResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:459

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

normalizeUpdateRecordResponse, normalizeCreateRecordResponse and normalizeDeleteRecordResponse delegate to this method by default.

normalizeSingleResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:477

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

normalizeQueryResponse and normalizeFindRecordResponse delegate to this method by default.

normalizeUpdateRecordResponse (store, primaryModelClass, payload, id, requestType) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:441

Available since v1.13.0

store: Store
primaryModelClass: Model
payload: Object
id: String|Number
requestType: String
returns: Object; JSON-API Document

Called by the default normalizeResponse implementation when the type of request is updateRecord

payloadKeyFromModelName (modelName) String public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Defined in ../packages/serializer/src/json-api.js:366

modelName: String
returns: String

Converts the model name to a pluralized version of the model name.

For example post would be converted to posts and student-assesment would be converted to student-assesments.

pushPayload (store, payload) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Defined in ../packages/serializer/src/json-api.js:211

store: Store
payload: Object

Normalize some data and push it into the store.

serialize (snapshot, options) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:962

snapshot: Snapshot
options: Object
returns: Object; json

Called when a record is saved in order to convert the record into JSON.

By default, it creates a JSON object with a key for each attribute and belongsTo relationship.

For example, consider this model:

app/models/comment.js

import Model, { attr, belongsTo } from '@ember-data/model';

export default class CommentModel extends Model {
  @attr title;
  @attr body;

  @belongsTo('user') author;
}

The default serialization would create a JSON object like:

{
  "title": "Rails is unagi",
  "body": "Rails? Omakase? O_O",
  "author": 12
}

By default, attributes are passed through as-is, unless you specified an attribute type (attr('date')). If you specify a transform, the JavaScript value will be serialized when inserted into the JSON hash.

By default, belongs-to relationships are converted into IDs when inserted into the JSON hash.

IDs

serialize takes an options hash with a single option: includeId. If this option is true, serialize will, by default include the ID in the JSON object it builds.

The adapter passes in includeId: true when serializing a record for createRecord, but not for updateRecord.

Customization

Your server may expect a different JSON format than the built-in serialization format.

In that case, you can implement serialize yourself and return a JSON hash of your choosing.

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serialize(snapshot, options) {
    let json = {
      POST_TTL: snapshot.attr('title'),
      POST_BDY: snapshot.attr('body'),
      POST_CMS: snapshot.hasMany('comments', { ids: true })
    };

    if (options.includeId) {
      json.POST_ID_ = snapshot.id;
    }

    return json;
  }
}

Customizing an App-Wide Serializer

If you want to define a serializer for your entire application, you'll probably want to use eachAttribute and eachRelationship on the record.

app/serializers/application.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';
import { singularize } from '<app-name>/utils/string-utils';

export default class ApplicationSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serialize(snapshot, options) {
    let json = {};

    snapshot.eachAttribute((name) => {
      json[serverAttributeName(name)] = snapshot.attr(name);
    });

    snapshot.eachRelationship((name, relationship) => {
      if (relationship.kind === 'hasMany') {
        json[serverHasManyName(name)] = snapshot.hasMany(name, { ids: true });
      }
    });

    if (options.includeId) {
      json.ID_ = snapshot.id;
    }

    return json;
  }
}

function serverAttributeName(attribute) {
  return attribute.underscore().toUpperCase();
}

function serverHasManyName(name) {
  return serverAttributeName(singularize(name)) + "_IDS";
}

This serializer will generate JSON that looks like this:

{
  "TITLE": "Rails is omakase",
  "BODY": "Yep. Omakase.",
  "COMMENT_IDS": [ "1", "2", "3" ]
}

Tweaking the Default JSON

If you just want to do some small tweaks on the default JSON, you can call super.serialize first and make the tweaks on the returned JSON.

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serialize(snapshot, options) {
    let json = super.serialize(...arguments);

    json.subject = json.title;
    delete json.title;

    return json;
  }
}

serialize (snapshot, options) Object public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from Serializer ../packages/serializer/src/index.ts:200

snapshot: Snapshot
options: Object
returns: Object

The serialize method is used when a record is saved in order to convert the record into the form that your external data source expects.

serialize takes an optional options hash with a single option:

includeId: If this is true, serialize should include the ID in the serialized object it builds.

Example:

Serializer.extend({
  serialize(snapshot, options) {
    let json = {
      id: snapshot.id
    };

    snapshot.eachAttribute((key, attribute) => {
      json[key] = snapshot.attr(key);
    });

    snapshot.eachRelationship((key, relationship) => {
      if (relationship.kind === 'belongsTo') {
        json[key] = snapshot.belongsTo(key, { id: true });
      } else if (relationship.kind === 'hasMany') {
        json[key] = snapshot.hasMany(key, { ids: true });
      }
    });

    return json;
  },
});

serializeAttribute (snapshot, json, key, attribute) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1173

snapshot: Snapshot
json: Object
key: String
attribute: Object

serializeAttribute can be used to customize how attr properties are serialized

For example if you wanted to ensure all your attributes were always serialized as properties on an attributes object you could write:

app/serializers/application.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class ApplicationSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serializeAttribute(snapshot, json, key, attributes) {
    json.attributes = json.attributes || {};
    super.serializeAttribute(snapshot, json.attributes, key, attributes);
  }
}

serializeBelongsTo (snapshot, json, relationship) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1221

snapshot: Snapshot
json: Object
relationship: Object

serializeBelongsTo can be used to customize how belongsTo properties are serialized.

Example

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serializeBelongsTo(snapshot, json, relationship) {
    let key = relationship.name;
    let belongsTo = snapshot.belongsTo(key);

    key = this.keyForRelationship ? this.keyForRelationship(key, "belongsTo", "serialize") : key;

    json[key] = !belongsTo ? null : belongsTo.record.toJSON();
  }
}

serializeHasMany (snapshot, json, relationship) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1275

snapshot: Snapshot
json: Object
relationship: Object

serializeHasMany can be used to customize how hasMany properties are serialized.

Example

app/serializers/post.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class PostSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serializeHasMany(snapshot, json, relationship) {
    let key = relationship.name;
    if (key === 'comments') {
      return;
    } else {
      super.serializeHasMany(...arguments);
    }
  }
}

serializeIntoHash (hash, typeClass, snapshot, options) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1140

hash: Object
typeClass: Model
snapshot: Snapshot
options: Object

You can use this method to customize how a serialized record is added to the complete JSON hash to be sent to the server. By default the JSON Serializer does not namespace the payload and just sends the raw serialized JSON object. If your server expects namespaced keys, you should consider using the RESTSerializer. Otherwise you can override this method to customize how the record is added to the hash. The hash property should be modified by reference.

For example, your server may expect underscored root objects.

app/serializers/application.js

import RESTSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/rest';
import { underscoren} from '<app-name>/utils/string-utils';

export default class ApplicationSerializer extends RESTSerializer {
  serializeIntoHash(data, type, snapshot, options) {
    let root = underscore(type.modelName);
    data[root] = this.serialize(snapshot, options);
  }
}

serializePolymorphicType (snapshot, json, relationship) public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:1322

snapshot: Snapshot
json: Object
relationship: Object

You can use this method to customize how polymorphic objects are serialized. Objects are considered to be polymorphic if { polymorphic: true } is pass as the second argument to the belongsTo function.

Example

app/serializers/comment.js

import JSONSerializer from '@ember-data/serializer/json';

export default class CommentSerializer extends JSONSerializer {
  serializePolymorphicType(snapshot, json, relationship) {
    let key = relationship.name;
    let belongsTo = snapshot.belongsTo(key);

    key = this.keyForAttribute ? this.keyForAttribute(key, 'serialize') : key;

    if (!belongsTo) {
      json[key + '_type'] = null;
    } else {
      json[key + '_type'] = belongsTo.modelName;
    }
  }
}

shouldSerializeHasMany (snapshot, key, relationship) Boolean public

Module: @ember-data/serializer/json-api

Inherited from JSONSerializer ../packages/serializer/src/json.js:939

snapshot: Snapshot
key: String
relationship: RelationshipSchema
returns: Boolean; true if the hasMany relationship should be serialized

Check if the given hasMany relationship should be serialized

By default only many-to-many and many-to-none relationships are serialized. This could be configured per relationship by Serializer's attrs object.