Setting new default properties for to_xml serializer in Rails
In Rails, I am coding for a number of controllers to generate XML. Every time I pass multiple properties to to_xml, for example:
to_xml(:skip_types => true, :dasherize => false)
Is there a way I can set as new default properties that will be applied whenever to_xml is called in my application so that I don't have to repeat myself?
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Are you calling to_xml on a hash or an ActiveRecord model (or whatever)?
I don't want you to want it, but you can easily patch the to_xml monkey and override it to start with these parameters. I would suggest that you create a new to_default_xml method that just called to_xml with the parameters you want
def to_default_xml
self.to_xml(:skip_types => true, :dasherize => false)
end
Update:
Since you want to add this to multiple ActiveRecord models, you can do two things: open ActiveRecord :: base (which is a bit hacky and fragile), or create a module and import it into each model you want to use with it. A little more typing, but much cleaner code.
I would put a class in lib / that looks something like this:
module DefaultXml
def to_default_xml
self.to_xml(:skip_types => true, :dasherize => false)
end
end
Then in your models:
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
include DefaultXml
end
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I put together a plugin to handle default serialization parameters. Check it out at github.com/laserlemon/dry_serial/tree/master.
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
dry_serial :skip_types => true, :dasherize => false
end
It also supports several serialization styles, which can be called like:
@my_model.to_xml(:skinny)
@my_model.to_xml(:fat)
Assuming you are talking about the AR to_xml method and depending on your needs you can get away with extending the AcitveRecord class by creating a file called: lib \ class_extensions.rb
class ActiveRecord::Base
def to_xml_default
self.to_xml(:skip_types => true, :dasherize => false)
end
end
Then put this in an initializer so that it's included when Rails starts up:
require 'class_extensions'
Now you can use it like this (without having to include it in every model):
MyModel.to_xml_default