Change how renderer output is converted to JSON

lib/jsonapi/rails/railtie.rb

@@ -54,10 +54,76 @@ def register_renderers
               # Renderer proc is evaluated in the controller context.
               headers['Content-Type'] = Mime[:jsonapi].to_s
 
-              ActiveSupport::Notifications.instrument('render.jsonapi-rails',
-                                                      resources: resources,
-                                                      options: options) do
-                JSON.generate(renderer.render(resources, options, self))
+              ActiveSupport::Notifications.instrument(
+                'render.jsonapi-rails',
+                resources: resources,
+                options: options
+              ) do
+                # Depending on whether or not a valid cache object is present
+                # in the options, the #render call below will return two
+                # slightly different kinds of hash.
+                #
+                # Both hashes have broadly the following structure, where r is
+                # some representation of a JSON::API resource:
+                #
+                # {
+                #   data: [ r1, r2, r3 ],
+                #   meta: { count: 12345 },
+                #   jsonapi: { version: "1.0" }
+                # }
+                #
+                # For non-cached calls to this method, the `data` field in the
+                # return value will contain an array of Ruby hashes.
+                #
+                # For cached calls, the `data` field will contain an array of
+                # JSON strings corresponding to the same data. This happens
+                # because jsonapi-renderer caches both the JSON serialization
+                # step as well as the assembly of the relevant attributes into
+                # a JSON::API-compliant structure. Those JSON strings are
+                # created via calls to `to_json`. They are then wrapped in
+                # CachedResourcesProcessor::JSONString. This defines a
+                # `to_json` method which simply returns self, ie - it attempts
+                # to ensure that any further `to_json` calls result in no
+                # changes.
+                #
+                # That isn't what happens in a Rails context, however. Below,
+                # the last step is to convert the entire output hash of the
+                # renderer into a JSON string to send to the client. If we
+                # call `to_json` on the cached output, the already-made JSON
+                # strings in the `data` field will be converted again,
+                # resulting in malformed data reaching the client. This happens
+                # because the ActiveSupport `to_json` takes precedent, meaning
+                # the "no-op" `to_json` definition on JSONString never gets
+                # executed.
+                #
+                # We can get around this by using JSON.generate instead, which
+                # will use the `to_json` defined on JSONString rather than the
+                # ActiveSupport one.
+                #
+                # However, we can't use JSON.generate on the non-cached output.
+                # Doing so means that its `data` field contents are converted
+                # with a non-ActiveSupport `to_json`. This means cached and
+                # non-cached responses have subtle differences in how their
+                # resources are serialized. For example:
+                #
+                # x = Time.new(2021,1,1)
+                #
+                # x.to_json
+                # => "\"2021-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00\""
+                #
+                # JSON.generate x
+                # => "\"2021-01-01 00:00:00 +0000\""
+                #
+                # The different outputs mean we need to take different
+                # approaches when converting the entire payload into JSON,
+                # hence the check below.
+                jsonapi_hash = renderer.render(resources, options, self)
+
+                if jsonapi_hash[:data]&.first&.class == JSONAPI::Renderer::CachedResourcesProcessor::JSONString
+                  JSON.generate jsonapi_hash
+                else
+                  jsonapi_hash.to_json
+                end
               end
             end
           end