Entries Tagged 'XML' ↓

The Basecamp API has released. I am glad to see this because it means we can improve our use of the tools by creating a different interface to the data when necessary.

Thankfully, the API is XML over HTTP, which has proven to be a pragmatic and useful approach for us at Vitalsource.

A cool bit of code for accepting XML/YAML in a REST API.

UPDATE: Here’s a quick and dirty example:

app/controllers/foo_controller.rb

class FooController  < RestController
  def debug
  end
end

app/controllers/rest_controller.rb

class RestController  < ActionController::Base
before_filter :slurp_params

  # Extract the parameters from the XML or YAML HTTP POST.
  def slurp_params
    return unless request.post?
    slurp_method = "slurp_xml"
    slurp_method = "slurp_#{request.post_format}" if request.post_format
    if respond_to?(slurp_method)
      send(slurp_method)
    else
      render_error "you suck"
    end
  end

  # Extract parameters from posted YAML
  def slurp_yaml
    yaml = YAML.load(@request.raw_post)
    @params.merge! yaml
  end

  # Extract parameters from posted XML
  def slurp_xml
    xml = XmlSimple.xml_in(@request.raw_post, 'ForceArray' => false)
    @params.merge! xml
  end

  def render_error(message)
   string = "<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<response>\n<error>1</error>\n<message>#{ message }</message>\n</response>"
   render_text(string)
  end
end

app/views/foo/debug.rhtml

  <%="slurp_#{request.post_format}"%>
  <% @params.each_pair { |key, value| %> <%=key%>: <%=value%><br /><%}%>

script/xmltest

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'net/http'
h = Net::HTTP.new('localhost', 3000)
resp, data = h.post('/foo/debug', '
‘, { ‘Content-Type’ => ‘text/xml’ })
puts data

A test run:

slurp_xml
  username: bob<br />action: debug<br />controller: foo<br />first_name: Bobby<br />password: bob<br />last_name: Bonez<br />

script/xmlbad (posts as an HTML Form would)

curl -X POST -d "<person username="bob" password="bob" first_name="Bobby" last_name="Bonez" />" http://localhost:3000/foo/debug

A test run:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response>
<error>1</error>
<message>you suck</message>
</response>