REQ: flags for abilities

[turadg]

I use AMS to feed Backbone models, and in some cases I need the model to know whether it has permission to do something back on the server before attempting it. E.g. I want to show a lock icon if an update will fail because the current_user.cannot? :edit, @object.

Right now I do this:

class QuestionSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :id, :prompt, :feedback, :can_edit
  def can_edit
    current_ability = Ability.new(scope)
    current_ability.can? :edit, @object
  end
end

Instead I'd like to use a_m_s-cancan to make those flags declaratively:

class QuestionSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
  attributes :id, :prompt, :feedback
  cancan_flags :edit  # adds `can_edit` property as above
end

I understand if the project maintainers aren't interested in doing this, so no expectations here. I made the issue to 1) see if there's enough demand that I try and 2) to document how to set up CanCan flags without loading this gem.

[ghempton]

This functionality definitely sounds useful. IMO, it would make more sense to serialize this information in the meta attribute rather than being at the top level.