Fast JSON API

A lightning fast JSON:API serializer for Ruby Objects.

Performance Comparision

We compare serialization times with Active Model Serializer as part of RSpec performance tests included on this library. We want to ensure that with every change on this library, serialization time is at least 25 times faster than Active Model Serializers on up to current benchmark of 1000 records.

Benchmark times for 250 records

  $ rspec
  Active Model Serializer serialized 250 records in 138.71 ms
  Fast JSON API serialized 250 records in 3.01 ms

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
  • Model Definition
  • Serializer Definition
  • Object Serialization
  • Compound Document
  • Collection Serialization
  • Caching
• Contributing

Features

• Declaration syntax similar to Active Model serializer
• Support for belongs_to, has_many and has_one
• Support for compound documents (included)
• Optimized serialization of compound documents
• Caching

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'fast_jsonapi'

Execute:

$ bundle install

Usage

Model Definition

class Movie
  attr_accessor :id, :name, :year, :actor_ids, :owner_id
end

Serializer Definition

class MovieSerializer
  include FastJsonapi::ObjectSerializer
  set_type :movie  # optional
  attributes :name, :year
  has_many :actors
  belongs_to :owner, record_type: :user
  belongs_to :movie_type
end

Sample Object

m = Movie.new
m.id = 232
m.name = 'test movie'
m.actor_ids = [1, 2, 3]
m.owner_id = 3
m.movie_type_id = 1
m

Object Serialization

Return a hash

hash = MovieSerializer.new(movie).serializable_hash

Return Serialized JSON

json_string = MovieSerializer.new(movie).serialized_json

Serialized Output

{
  "data": {
    "id": "232",
    "type": "movie",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "test movie",
      "year": null
    },
    "relationships": {
      "actors": {
        "data": [
          {
            "id": "1",
            "type": "actor"
          },
          {
            "id": "2",
            "type": "actor"
          }
        ]
      },
      "owner": {
        "data": {
          "id": "3",
          "type": "user"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Compound Document

Support for top-level included member through options[:include].

options = {}
options[:meta] = { total: 2 }
options[:include] = [:actors]
MovieSerializer.new([movie, movie], options).serialized_json

Collection Serialization

options[:meta] = { total: 2 }
hash = MovieSerializer.new([movie, movie], options).serializable_hash
json_string = MovieSerializer.new([movie, movie], options).serialized_json

Caching

class MovieSerializer
  include FastJsonapi::ObjectSerializer
  set_type :movie  # optional
  cache_options enabled: true cache_length: 12.hours
  attributes :name, :year
end

Customizable Options

Option	Purpose	Example
set_type	Type name of Object	set_type :movie
cache_options	Hash to enable caching and set cache length	cache_options enabled: true cache_length: 12.hours
id_method_name	Set custom method name to get ID of an object	has_many :locations, id_method_name: :place_ids
object_method_name	Set custom method name to get related objects	has_many :locations, object_method_name: :places
record_type	Set custom Object Type for a relationship	belongs_to :owner, record_type: :user
serializer	Set custom Serializer for a relationship	has_many :actors, serializer: :custom_actor

Contributing

This gem is built using a gem building gem called juwelier.

Beyond just editing source code, you’ll be interacting with the gem using rake a lot. To see all the tasks available with a brief description, you can run:

rake -T

Updating Project information

You can update the project information of the gem by updating the Rakefile. Then you need to generate a new gemspec

rake gemspec

Running Tests

We use rspec for testing. We have unit tests, functional tests and performance tests. To run tests use the following rake task

rake spec

Installation

$ rake install

The install rake task builds the gem installs it. You're all set if you're using RVM, but you may need to run it with sudo if you have a system-installed ruby:

Bumping Version

It feels good to release code. Do it, do it often. But before that, bump the version. Then release it. There's a few ways to update the version:

# version:write like before
$ rake version:write MAJOR=0 MINOR=3 PATCH=0

# bump just major, ie 0.1.0 -> 1.0.0
$ rake version:bump:major

# bump just minor, ie 0.1.0 -> 0.2.0
$ rake version:bump:minor

# bump just patch, ie 0.1.0 -> 0.1.1
$ rake version:bump:patch