Rails Active Model Serializer - has_many and accessing the parent record

Question

I'm trying to build a JSON representation of some Rails models using Active Model Serializer, where some models embed others. For example, I have Event and Attendees, Event has_and_belongs_to_many Attendees.

class EventSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name

  has_many :attendees, serializer: AttendeeSerializer
end

class AttendeeSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name
end

This would result in JSON like { name: 'Event One', attendees: [{ name: 'Alice' }, { name: 'Bob' }] }.

Now, I'd like to add what the attendees have said about the event. Let's say, Comment belongs_to Event, belongs_to Attendee. I'd like to include said comments in the serialized output of event, so it would become { name: 'Event One', attendees: [{ name: 'Alice', comments: [{ text: 'Event One was great!'}] }, { name: 'Bob', comments: [] }] }.

I could have

class AttendeeSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name

  has_many :comments
end

but that would select all the comments by this attendee for all the events - not what I want. I'd like to write this, but how do I find the particular event for which I'm doing serialization? Can I somehow access the 'parent' object, or maybe pass options to a has_many serializer?

class AttendeeSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name

  has_many :comments

  def comments
    object.comments.where(event_id: the_event_in_this_context.id)
  end
end

Is this something that can be done, or should I just build the JSON in another way for this particular use case?

Answer 1

I'd do things manually to get control:

class EventSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name, :attendees

  def attendees
    object.attendees.map do |attendee|
      AttendeeSerializer.new(attendee, scope: scope, root: false, event: object)
    end
  end
end

class AttendeeSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :name, :comments

  def comments
    object.comments.where(event_id: @options[:event].id).map do |comment|
      CommentSerializer.new(comment, scope: scope, root: false)
    end
  end
end