[Request] Support for multiple serializers for one model

[JordanFinch72]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Hi, again! Our controllers have begun using separate serialisers for each endpoint. For example, ObjectsController#index, #show, #some_other_action would have ObjectIndexSerializer, ObjectSerializer/ObjectShowSerializer, ObjectSomeOtherActionSerializer.

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be cool to be able to have the model annotations on each of these serialisers in addition to the default ObjectSerializer. Also happy if this requires manual configuration, e.g. some YAML file with a mapping.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Nothing springs to mind!

[OdenTakashi]

Hi @JordanFinch72 Thanks for the request!

I think this is already possible with the existing additional_file_patterns option, as long as the serializers follow a model-name-based naming convention.

For example, for:

ObjectSerializer
ObjectIndexSerializer
ObjectShowSerializer
ObjectSomeOtherActionSerializer

with files like:

app/serializers/object_serializer.rb
app/serializers/object_index_serializer.rb
app/serializers/object_show_serializer.rb
app/serializers/object_some_other_action_serializer.rb

you can configure:

additional_file_patterns:
  - "app/serializers/%MODEL_NAME%_*_serializer.rb"

The default ObjectSerializer is already covered by the existing serializer pattern, and the additional pattern above picks up the action-specific serializers.

I tested this against the dummy app with TestDefaultIndexSerializer / TestDefaultShowSerializer, and the annotations were applied as expected.

I also opened a small reference PR in my fork showing the dummy app setup I used for

• Test additional file patterns with action serializers OdenTakashi/annotaterb#2

Could you try this approach and see if it works for your use case?

[JordanFinch72]

Hi, @OdenTakashi. This is wonderful, thanks for getting back to me! I just tried it out in our app and it works perfectly. I wonder if one day it would also be possible to configure it to only annotate the subset attributes that are used by each serializer? No worries if not, but maybe a cool idea if you were ever to expand the serializer annotation functionality!

I found a small thing while implementing this: We don't have a _spec.rb file for one of our serializers (for shame), but bundle exec annotaterb models generated it in order to populate it with the annotations. Just thought I'd let you know.

[OdenTakashi]

Hi @JordanFinch72, thanks for trying it out—glad to hear it works!

Annotating only the attributes used by each serializer sounds like an interesting idea. Since annotaterb is currently schema-based, that would likely require separate serializer-aware logic. I don’t have plans to work on that right now, but if you’d like to submit a patch/PR, I’d be happy to review it and help get it into the gem.

bundle exec annotaterb models generated it in order to populate it with the annotations. Just thought I'd let you know.

About the generated _spec.rb, thanks for flagging it. I couldn’t reproduce it locally, and from the current code path annotaterb checks that a related file exists before writing annotations, so it shouldn’t create new files just for annotations.

If you’re able to reproduce it, I’d be happy to take a closer look—could you share the exact file path, the output from bundle exec annotaterb models, and your annotaterb version/config?