Easy and powerful object to hash serialization tool. It may be used together with to_json/to_xml/to_yaml methods.

Take a look at the example below:

class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
  def name
    #...
  end
end

class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
  def author_name
    #...
  end
end

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :category
  has_many :comments

  include ToHash

  def title
    #...
  end

  def body
    #...
  end
end

# simple serialization
Post.first.to_hash(:title, :body)
#=> { :title => "Post Title", :body => "Post body" }

# serialization with key changing
Post.first.to_hash(:title => :title, :content => :body)
#=> { :title => "Post Title", :content => "Post body" }

# simple serialization of nested objects
Post.first.to_hash(:title, [:category, :name])
#=> { :title => "Post Title", :category => { :name => "Category Name" } }

# serialization of nested objects with key changing
Post.first.to_hash(:title, [:category, { :categoryName => :name }])
#=> { :title => "Post Title", :category => { :categoryName => "Category Name" } }

# serialization of nested arrays
Post.first.to_hash(:title, [:comments, { :author => :author_name }])
#=> { :title => "Post Title", :comments => [{ :author => "John Doe" }, { :author => "Jim Smith" }] }

# creating JSON
Post.first.to_hash(:t => :title, :b => :body).to_json
#=> "{\"t\": \"Post Title\", \"b\": \"Post body\"}"

• ToHash module doesn’t require the class to inherit from ActiveRecord::Base - it can be used with any other classes as well.

Copyright © 2009 Jakub Kuźma, released under the MIT license