How to customize json output in rails? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a model for languages and i want to get all the languages as json but the json output looks as follows
[{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":1,"language":"English","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":2,"language":"Swedish","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":3,"language":"German","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":4,"language":"French","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":5,"language":"spanish","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":null,"id":6,"language":"dutch","updated_at":null}},{"language":{"created_at":"2012-12-03T05:01:18Z","id":7,"language":"Tamil","updated_at":"2012-12-03T05:01:18Z"}}]
but i want to make this as
{"language":[{"created_at":null,"id":1,"language":"English","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":2,"language":"Swedish","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":3,"language":"German","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":4,"language":"French","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":5,"language":"spanish","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":6,"language":"dutch","updated_at":null},{"created_at":null,"id":7,"language":"Tamil","updated_at":null} ] }
Update
def index
#languages = Language.all
respond_to do |format|
format.json { render json: #languages}
end
end
update 2
class Language < ActiveRecord::Base
ActiveRecord::Base.include_root_in_json = false
has_and_belongs_to_many :users
end

Answer 1

I believe this should work:
format.json { render json: { "language" => #languages.as_json(:root => false) }.to_json }
What this does it to convert the #languages array into an array of JSON-formatted hash models with no root keys (using as_json), then wraps the result in a hash with a root key "language", and convert that hash into a JSON-formatted string with to_json. (See the docs for details on including or not including a root node using as_json.)
For example, with a model Post:
posts = Post.all
#=> [#<Post id: 1, name: "foo", title: "jkl", content: "some content", created_at: "2012-11-22 01:05:46", updated_at: "2012-11-22 01:05:46">]
# convert to array of hashes with no root keys
posts.as_json(root: false)
#=> [{"content"=>"some content", "created_at"=>Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:05:46 UTC +00:00, "id"=>1, "name"=>"foo", "title"=>"jkl", "updated_at"=>Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:05:46 UTC +00:00}]
# add root back to collection:
{ "post" => posts.as_json(root: false) }
#=> {"post"=>[{"content"=>"some content", "created_at"=>Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:05:46 UTC +00:00, "id"=>1, "name"=>"foo", "title"=>"jkl", "updated_at"=>Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:41:42 UTC +00:00}]}
# convert to JSON-formatted string
{ "post" => posts.as_json(root: false) }.to_json
#=> "{\"post\":[{\"content\":\"some content\",\"created_at\":\"2012-11-22T01:05:46Z\",\"id\":1,\"name\":\"foo\",\"title\":\"jkl\",\"updated_at\":\"2012-12-03T09:43:37Z\"}]}"

Answer 2

override the as_json on the Model you want to customize
def as_json options={}
{
id: id,
login: login,
name: custom.value, #for custom name
...
}
end
==> or
def as_json(options={})
super(:only => [:id, :login, :name ....])
end
from : here
Other link: here

Answer 3

I suggest you to use rabl gem (https://github.com/nesquena/rabl) to format your data.

Answer 4

Override as_json method in your model, to include associations, hide columns and why not? calling custom methods as they were attributes
def as_json(options={})
super(:except => [:created_at,:updated_at],
:include => {
:members => {
:only => [:role, :account],
:include => {
:account => {
:only => [:name, :subdomain]
}
}
}
},
:methods => [:jwt_token]
)
end
This will output something like this:
{
"id": 2,
"name": "Test Teacher",
"email": "teacher#testing.io",
"jwt_token":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6MiwiZXhwIjoxNTY2NzQ0OTQzfQ.HDGu7JiJEQEEpGo7inuXtOZBVQOfTaFquy8dr-QH5jY",
"members": [{
"role": "instructor",
"account": {
"name": "Testing",
"subdomain": "test"
}
}],
}

Answer 5

The easiest way of adding custom json output when you render json is by using gem that provide many json templates-
https://github.com/fabrik42/acts_as_api