Decanter is a Ruby gem that makes it easy to transform incoming data before it hits the model. You can think of Decanter as the opposite of Active Model Serializers (AMS). While AMS transforms your outbound data into a format that your frontend consumes, Decanter transforms your incoming data into a format that your backend consumes.
gem 'decanter', '~> 3.0'
Declare a Decanter
for a model:
# app/decanters/trip_decanter.rb
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
input :name, :string
input :start_date, :date
input :end_date, :date
end
Then, transform incoming params in your controller using Decanter#decant
:
# app/controllers/trips_controller.rb
def create
trip_params = params.require(:trip) # or params[:trip] if you are not using Strong Parameters
decanted_trip_params = TripDecanter.decant(trip_params)
@trip = Trip.new(decanted_trip_params)
# ...any response logic
end
Decanter comes with generators for creating Decanter
and Parser
files:
rails g decanter Trip name:string start_date:date end_date:date
rails g parser TruncatedString
Decanters can declare relationships using ActiveRecord
-style declarators:
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
has_many :destinations
end
This decanter will look up and apply the corresponding DestinationDecanter
whenever necessary to transform nested resources.
Decanter comes with the following parsers out of the box:
:boolean
:date
:date_time
:float
:integer
:pass
:phone
:string
:array
Note: these parsers are designed to operate on a single value, except for :array
. This parser expects an array, and will use the parse_each
option to call a given parser on each of its elements:
input :ids, :array, parse_each: :integer
Parsers can receive options that modify their behavior. These options are passed in as named arguments to input
:
input :start_date, :date, parse_format: '%Y-%m-%d'
By default, Decanter#decant
will raise an exception when unexpected parameters are passed. To override this behavior, you can disable strict mode:
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
strict false
# ...
end
Or explicitly ignore a key:
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
ignore :created_at, :updated_at
# ...
end
You can also disable strict mode globally using a global configuration setting.
To add a custom parser, first create a parser class:
# app/parsers/truncate_string_parser.rb
class TruncateStringParser < Decanter::Parser::ValueParser
parser do |value, options|
length = options.fetch(:length, 100)
value.truncate(length)
end
end
Then, use the appropriate key to look up the parser:
input :name, :truncate_string #=> TruncateStringParser
#parse <block>
: (required) recieves a block for parsing a value. Block parameters are|value, options|
forValueParser
and|name, value, options|
forHashParser
.#allow [<class>]
: skips parse step if the incoming valueis_a?
instance of class(es).#pre [<parser>]
: applies the given parser(s) before parsing the value.
Decanter::Parser::ValueParser
: subclasses are expected to return a single value.Decanter::Parser::HashParser
: subclasses are expected to return a hash of keys and values.
Sometimes, you may want to take several inputs and combine them into one finished input prior to sending to your model. You can achieve this with a custom parser:
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
input [:day, :month, :year], :squash_date, key: :start_date
end
class SquashDateParser < Decanter::Parser::ValueParser
parser do |values, options|
day, month, year = values.map(&:to_i)
Date.new(year, month, day)
end
end
You can compose multiple parsers by using the #pre
method:
class FloatPercentParser < Decanter::Parser::ValueParser
pre :float
parser do |val, options|
val / 100
end
end
Or by declaring multiple parsers for a single input:
class SomeDecanter < Decanter::Base
input :some_percent, [:float, :percent]
end
If you provide the option :required
for an input in your decanter, an exception will be thrown if the parameter is nil
or an empty string.
class TripDecanter < Decanter::Base
input :name, :string, required: true
end
Note: we recommend using Active Record validations to check for presence of an attribute, rather than using the required
option. This method is intended for use in non-RESTful routes or cases where Active Record validations are not available.
You can generate a local copy of the default configuration with rails generate decanter:install
. This will create an initializer where you can do global configuration:
# ./config/initializers/decanter.rb
Decanter.config do |config|
config.strict = false
end
This project is maintained by developers at LaunchPad Lab. Contributions of any kind are welcome!
We aim to provide a response to incoming issues within 48 hours. However, please note that we are an active dev shop and these responses may be as simple as "we do not have time to respond to this right now, but can address it at {x} time".
For detailed information specific to contributing to this project, reference our Contribution guide.