Instance Public methods
serialize(attr_name, class_name_or_coder = Object, **options) Link
If you have an attribute that needs to be saved to the database as an object, and retrieved as the same object, then specify the name of that attribute using this method and it will be handled automatically. The serialization is done through YAML. If class_name
is specified, the serialized object must be of that class on assignment and retrieval. Otherwise SerializationTypeMismatch
will be raised.
Empty objects as {}
, in the case of Hash
, or []
, in the case of Array
, will always be persisted as null.
Keep in mind that database adapters handle certain serialization tasks for you. For instance: json
and jsonb
types in PostgreSQL will be converted between JSON object/array syntax and Ruby Hash
or Array
objects transparently. There is no need to use serialize
in this case.
For more complex cases, such as conversion to or from your application domain objects, consider using the ActiveRecord::Attributes
API.
Parameters
-
attr_name
- The field name that should be serialized. -
class_name_or_coder
- Optional, a coder object, which responds to.load
and.dump
or a class name that the object type should be equal to.
Options
default
The default value to use when no value is provided. If this option is not passed, the previous default value (if any) will be used. Otherwise, the default will be nil
.
Example
# Serialize a preferences attribute.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :preferences
end
# Serialize preferences using JSON as coder.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :preferences, JSON
end
# Serialize preferences as Hash using YAML coder.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :preferences, Hash
end
# File activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/serialization.rb, line 66 def serialize(attr_name, class_name_or_coder = Object, **options) # When ::JSON is used, force it to go through the Active Support JSON encoder # to ensure special objects (e.g. Active Record models) are dumped correctly # using the #as_json hook. coder = if class_name_or_coder == ::JSON Coders::JSON elsif [:load, :dump].all? { |x| class_name_or_coder.respond_to?(x) } class_name_or_coder else Coders::YAMLColumn.new(attr_name, class_name_or_coder) end decorate_attribute_type(attr_name.to_s, **options) do |cast_type| if type_incompatible_with_serialize?(cast_type, class_name_or_coder) raise ColumnNotSerializableError.new(attr_name, cast_type) end Type::Serialized.new(cast_type, coder) end end