Description
When I'm trying to use partials to render associated object and the association is nil the response object is an empty array [] instead of null (like on standard attribute fields). This is inconsistent, and actually it proved to make it very hard for clients using strong typed programming languages to interface with our API backend.
json.assignee ticket.assignee, partial: 'api/v1/users/user_short', as: :user
If ticket.assignee is empty view returns:
[]
instead of:
null
I've been using this workaround to make it work as expected:
ticket.assignee.present? ? json.assignee(ticket.assignee, partial: 'api/v1/users/user_short', as: :user) : json.user(nil)
However this is not the pretties solution and it requires defining everywhere nil association is to be expected.
Also please note that is only present with the partial option. Returning associated objects directly works as expected (object or null value if not present), however on very huge associated objects use of partials is a must.
Is there any configuration option or other way to have jbuilder return null values on empty association objects using partials?