fix: ensuring empty array is added when requested and updated tests

Author: harshalkalewar

.gitignore

@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@ coverage.xml
 
 # VirtualEnv
 .venv/
-venv/
-
-
 
 # Developers
 *.sw*
@@ -55,6 +52,3 @@ manage.py
 # example database
 drf_example
 
-pytest.ini
-
-

AUTHORS

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ David Guillot, for Contexte <[email protected]>
 David Vogt <[email protected]>
 Felix Viernickel <[email protected]>
 Greg Aker <[email protected]>
+Harshal Kalewar <[email protected]>
 Humayun Ahmad <[email protected]>
 Jamie Bliss <[email protected]>
 Jason Housley <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Changelog
+# _Changelog
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 Note that in line with [Django REST framework policy](https://www.django-rest-framework.org/topics/release-notes/),
 any parts of the framework not mentioned in the documentation should generally be considered private API, and may be subject to change.
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Fixed
+
+* Ensured that an empty `included` array is returned in responses when the `include` query parameter is present but no related resources exist.
+
 ## [8.0.0] - 2025-07-24
 
 ### Added
@@ -31,7 +37,7 @@ any parts of the framework not mentioned in the documentation should generally b
 * Removed support for Django 5.0.
 * Removed built-in support for generating OpenAPI schema. Use [drf-spectacular-json-api](https://github.com/jokiefer/drf-spectacular-json-api/) instead.
 
-## [7.1.0] - 2024-10-25
+## [7.1.0] - 2024-10-25_
 
 This is the last release supporting Python 3.8, Django 5.0 and Django REST framework 3.14.
 

example/tests/integration/test_includes.py

@@ -208,22 +208,45 @@ def test_meta_object_added_to_included_resources(single_entry, client):
     assert response.json()["included"][1].get("meta")
 
 
-def test_included_empty_array_when_requested(client, author_factory):
-    author = author_factory(bio=None)  # explicitly ensure no related bio
-    url = reverse("author-detail", args=[author.pk]) + "?include=bio"
-    response = client.get(url)
-    assert response.status_code == 200
-
+def test_included_array_empty_when_requested_but_no_data(blog_factory, client):
+    blog = blog_factory()
+    response = client.get(
+        reverse("blog-detail", kwargs={"pk": blog.pk}) + "?include=tags"
+    )
     content = response.json()
+
     assert "included" in content
     assert content["included"] == []
 
 
-def test_included_absent_when_not_requested(client, author_factory):
-    # Create an author (bio can be None or default, doesn't matter here)
-    author = author_factory(bio=None)
-    url = reverse("author-detail", args=[author.pk])
-    response = client.get(url)
-    assert response.status_code == 200
-    content = response.json()
-    assert "included" not in content
+def test_included_array_populated_when_related_data_exists(
+    blog_factory, tagged_item_factory, client
+):
+    blog = blog_factory()
+    tag = tagged_item_factory(tag="django")
+    blog.tags.add(tag)
+
+    response = client.get(
+        reverse("blog-detail", kwargs={"pk": blog.pk}) + "?include=tags"
+    )
+    included = response.json()["included"]
+
+    assert included, "Expected included array to be populated"
+    assert [x.get("type") for x in included] == [
+        "taggedItems"
+    ], "Included types incorrect"
+    assert included[0]["attributes"]["tag"] == "django"
+
+
+def test_included_array_present_via_jsonapimeta_defaults(
+    single_entry, comment_factory, author_factory, client
+):
+    author = author_factory()
+    comment_factory(entry=single_entry, author=author)
+
+    response = client.get(reverse("entry-detail", kwargs={"pk": single_entry.pk}))
+
+    included = response.json()["included"]
+
+    assert included, "Expected included array due to JSONAPIMeta defaults"
+    assert any(resource["type"] == "comments" for resource in included)

example/tests/test_filters.py

@@ -530,7 +530,8 @@ def test_search_keywords(self):
                     },
                     "meta": {"bodyFormat": "text"},
                 }
-            ]
+            ],
+            "included": [],
         }
         assert response.json() == expected_result
 

rest_framework_json_api/renderers.py

@@ -652,17 +652,13 @@ def render(self, data, accepted_media_type=None, renderer_context=None):
                 if not included_cache[obj_type]:
                     del included_cache[obj_type]
 
-        if included_cache:
+        if included_resources:
             render_data["included"] = list()
             for included_type in sorted(included_cache.keys()):
                 for included_id in sorted(included_cache[included_type].keys()):
                     render_data["included"].append(
                         included_cache[included_type][included_id]
                     )
-        else:
-            request = renderer_context.get("request")
-            if request and "include" in request.query_params:
-                render_data["included"] = []
 
         if json_api_meta:
             render_data["meta"] = format_field_names(json_api_meta)

setup.cfg

@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ exclude =
     .eggs
     .tox,
     env,
-    .venv,
-    venv
+    .venv
 
 [isort]
 multi_line_output = 3

tox.ini

@@ -48,5 +48,3 @@ deps =
 commands =
     sphinx-build -W -b html -d docs/_build/doctrees docs docs/_build/html
 
-
-