JRB Templates
JRB Templates makes it easy to write JSON web services in Rails. Rather than maintaining two views for the collection and the individual resource, or rendering a third via a partial, you only have to write a single .jrb view.
I'll write some tests just as soon an I figure out how to write tests for this thing. Do I need a full-blown Rails app?
Installation
Either
$ gem install jrb_template
or add
gem jrb_template
to your ./Gemfile
Examples
Using the new Ruby 1.9 hash format, you can just write something that looks a lot like JSON:
# app/views/books/book.json.jrb
{
href: book_url(book),
_type: "Book",
title: book.title
author_href: author_url(book.author),
synopsis: book.summary,
isbn: format_isbn(book.isbn),
created_at: book.created_at,
updated_at: book.updated_at
}
In Ruby 1.8, you have to use the old hash format, and the order gets jumbled.
Then, in your controller:
# app/controllers/books_controller.rb
class BooksController < ApplicationController
def index
@books = Book.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html
format.json { render :jrb_collection => @books }
end
end
def show
@book = Book.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html
format.json { render :jrb => @book }
end
end
end
Note: I do not recommend using application/json as the mime type extension. Please see Versioning REST Web Services.
Results in the following json:
# GET /books
{
href: "http://example.com/books",
count: 1,
items: [
{
href: "http://example.com/books/1
_type: "Book",
title: "Death From the Skies!",
author_href: "http://example.com/authors/plait_philip_c",
synopsis: " These Are the Ways the World Will End...",
isbn: "978-0670019977",
created_at: "2010-12-13T18:44:22Z",
updated_at: "2010-12-13T18:44:22Z"
}
]
}
# GET /books/1
{
href: "http://example.com/books/1
_type: "Book",
title: "Death From the Skies!",
author_href: "http://example.com/authors/plait_philip_c",
synopsis: " These Are the Ways the World Will End...",
isbn: "978-0670019977",
created_at: "2010-12-13T18:44:22Z",
updated_at: "2010-12-13T18:44:22Z"
}