XML serialization / format output for serialize :attribute, Hash

[konung]

Hi

I have a model Product with a bunch of serialized attributes - like so. This is a to keep some information that's calculated and updated once a week usually for reporting - and I don't do any searches on this data - it's essentially a free form dump field for stats.

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
  serialize :stock_details, Hash
  serialize :stats, Hash
end

Anyways when I render this as JSON - it's fine, cause hashes are first-class citizens. They are essentially Javascript objects ( for my purposes.)

{
  "id": 103323,
  "stats": {
    "shipped": {
      "this_week": 0,
      "this_month": 0,
      "this_year": 0,
      "last_week": 0,
      "last_month": 0,
      "last_year": 3
    },
    "ordered": {
      "this_week": 0,
      "this_month": 0,
      "this_year": 0,
      "last_week": 0,
      "last_month": 0,
      "last_year": 7
    }
  },
}

However see what's happening to the same data when requested as xml. Any ideas what to do here?

<>
    <id>103323</id>

    <stats>{:shipped=&gt;{:this_week=&gt;0, :this_month=&gt;0, :this_year=&gt;0, :last_week=&gt;0, :last_month=&gt;0, :last_year=&gt;3}, :ordered=&gt;{:this_week=&gt;0, :this_month=&gt;0, :this_year=&gt;0, :last_week=&gt;0, :last_month=&gt;0, :last_year=&gt;7}, :top_customers_by_volume=&gt;{"503012"=&gt;2, "AJRI"=&gt;2, "VOID"=&gt;2, "SSA001"=&gt;1, "215404"=&gt;1, "505886"=&gt;1, "514287"=&gt;1, "167319"=&gt;1}}</stats>
</>

What's the proper way to render this as XML?

[apotonick]

You can use the ::hash property, please check the XML tests. I couldn't find it in the documentation myself, so might have missed to that.

It works like

hash :stats

https://github.com/apotonick/representable/#more-on-xml

[konung]

Didn't make any difference for XML. But I do have complex hashes and hashes with arrays. I'm going to try implementing a separate representer for XML, thou I was mostly just playing with it - to see if I could get XML out of this setup for free. I don't need to support it now - JSON is what I need for API. I might need to expose XML interface down the line if we try more integrations with legacy systems.

[apotonick]

I am pretty sure there's hash support out-of-the-box with Representable, my internet is terribly slow currently but I can try to find an example for you.

[tstrass]

@apotonick If you ever found an example it would be very helpful to see it. I was unable to and the hash syntax you mentioned above didn't seem to do anything for me.

Update: I actually did get this to work, but now I have an additional question. hash seems to only work one level deep into the XML. I have a hash with multiple levels of nested hashes and the deeper levels are not getting xml-ized.

Here is an example of what it looks like when I use hash :filters

<filters>
    <provider>
        {"npi"=>"689", "tin"=>"155", "address"=>[{"street"=>["11 Main St"], "city"=>"NewTown", "state"=>"MO", "zip"=>"12345", "country"=>"us"}]}
    </provider>
</filters>