Rails - Serialize related data - sql

Question

I've got two models:
class Continent < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :countries
end
class Country < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :continent
end
I created controller like:
class ContinentsController < ApplicationController
def index
#continents = Continent.all
render json: #continents
end
end
and serializer:
class ContitnentSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
attributes :name, :countries
end
Here my issue begins. I'd like to serialize only countries with given condition where value comes from HTTP GET params. E.g country inside serializer should be displayed only if population is more than params[:population]. The problem is inside serializer we don't have access to params to examine that.
[
{
name: 'Europe'
countries: [
{
name: 'Italy',
population: 1000000
}
]
},
{
name: 'Africa'
countries: [
]
}
]
I've tried to join table with condition but it seems be not working.
#continents = Continent.all.joins("LEFT JOIN countries ON countries.continent_id = continents.id AND countries.population > #{params[:population]}")

Answer 1

Create a scope and call the scope with param value from controller:
scope :population_more_than, ->(population) {all.joins("LEFT JOIN countries ON countries.continent_id = continents.id AND countries.population > ?", population)}
Now call it from controller instead of Continent.all
Continent.population_more_than(params[:population])

Answer 2

You can try
#continents = Continent.all
#continents.num_population = params[:population]
render json: #continents.to_json(methods: :countries_with_population_gt)
in your Continent model
attr_accessor :num_population
def countries_with_population_gt(num_population=0)
countries.where('population > ?', #num_population)
end

Answer 3

Basically, you need to select only Continents that fall under specific rule. If this is a frequently used filter, then I would go with the Babar's suggestion and create a scope.
If this is a one time selection, then I prefer simply do filtering right there without cluttering up my models with non-frequently used scopes.
Continent.joins(:countries).where("countries.population > :population", population: params[:population])
# Or event shorter
Continent.joins(:countries).where("countries.population > :population", params)