Adding custom attributes to Spree::Api::ApiHelpers in the initializer doesn't seem to work.

[rabbitbike]

I have an issue with adding custom attributes as return values in api get requests. I followed the edge documentation and added Spree::Api::ApiHelpers.<custom>_attributes << [:attriubte1, :attribute2] in initializers/spree.rb. The attributes get added, but once the client makes a get request from the browser and it reaches the server, I find only the default values in Spree::Api::ApiHelpers.<custom>_attributes in the Api::BaseController.

I can add strong parameters in the same way through Spree::PermittedAttributes in the initializer and it works so I can patch/post and persist custom attributes in db. I don’t know if it is related to how the modules are loaded and/or how the ApiHelpers is referenced in the Api::BaseController via helper method.

I don’t know where else to look and would need help. I saw two other users in Slack forum raised the issue a while ago and hope anyone may have an answer. Thank you.

[kennyadsl]

Hey there 👋, what is custom in Spree::Api::ApiHelpers.<custom>_attributes? I mean, is this for some custom model you created in your store or for something already present in Solidus core?

[rabbitbike]

Thank you! I will give it a try later!

[kennyadsl]

This is more something needed to change in the core, I jotted it down here just for reference. no need to try in your application. Thanks for reporting this issue!

[rabbitbike]

Thank you for the reference code. I tried it anyway, and I would like to report that I was able to make it work.

In my code I had to make a few arrangements. Since I would like to continue using the solidus_api gem as is, I was not able to directly modify the files in your reference code. Instead, I did the following:

# host_app/config/initializers/spree.rb

Spree::ApiConfiguration.preference :user_attributes, :array, default: [:id, :email, :created_at, :updated_at]

Spree::Api::Config.configure do |config|
  config.user_attributes += [ :your_custom_attributes ]
end

# host_app/app/helpers/decorators/api_helpers_decorator.rb

module Decorators::ApiHelpersDecorator
  Spree::Api::ApiHelpers.module_eval do
    def user_attributes
      Spree::Deprecation.warn("Please use Spree::Api::Config::user_attributes instead.")
      Spree::Api::Config.user_attributes
    end
  end
end

The reason I am assigning the preference in the spree.rb file is that it seems the spree.rb gets called before decorators. With these changes, I am able to get custom attributes through api calls.

Thank you for solving the issue and I am super happy to hear that you are taking a note of this issue. Thank you!

[kennyadsl]

If you are monkey patching the ApiHelpers module in your application, I think you could even just do:

Spree::Api::ApiHelpers.module_eval do
  user_attributes << :another_attribute
end

without all the rest of the changes I mentioned. Hope this helps to simplify your codebase.

[rabbitbike]

Yes, I think that is the way to go. It's simple and I can add fields for other models here as well, and it only gets called once. Thank you!

[kennyadsl]

I've opened this issue #4027, hope someone can help us fix it.

[kennyadsl]

This has been done in #4039.

Starting from Solidus 3.1, we can use the following approach:

Spree::Api::Config.configure do |config|
  config.user_attributes += [ :your_custom_attributes ]
end