translation from XML to rest-client for POST request - ruby

Question

The is the XML request via POST I have to make in order to receive a response:
<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
<BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
<ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
<PersonalData>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>John</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
<Aliases>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
</Aliases>
<DemographicDetail>
<GovernmentId issuingAuthority="SSN">123456789</GovernmentId>
<DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
</DemographicDetail>
<PostalAddress>
<PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
<Region>UT</Region>
<Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
<DeliveryAddress>
<AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
<StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
</DeliveryAddress>
</PostalAddress>
<EmailAddress>john#test.com</EmailAddress>
<Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
</PersonalData>
</BackgroundCheck>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>
Using the examples on the rest-client github page I came up with the following translation using rest-client:
response = RestClient.post( 'url',
{
:BackgroundCheck => {
:userID => 'username',
:password => 'password',
},
:BackgroundSearchPackage => {
:action => 'submit',
:type => 'demo'
},
:ReferenceID => 'some_id_value',
:PersonalData => {
:PersonalName => {
:GivenName => 'John',
:MiddleName => 'Q',
:FamilyName => 'Test'
},
:Aliases => {
:GivenName => 'Jack',
:MiddleName => 'Quigly',
:FamilyName => 'Example'
}
},
:DemographicDetail => {
:GovernmentId => {
:issuingAuthority => "SSN"
}, ## where do I enter the SSN?
:DateOfBirth => '1972-12-25'
},
:PostalAddress => {
:PostalCode => '83201',
:Region => 'UT',
:Municipality => 'Salt Lake City',
:DeliveryAddress => {
:AddressLine => '1234',
:StreetName => 'Main Street'
}
},
:EmailAddress => 'john#test.com',
:Telephone => '801-789-4229'
})
Its my first time with XML and the rest-client gem.
My question is did I translate the XML correctly in the POST request?
More specifically how do I handle the GovernmentID and referencing the SSN entry?

Answer 1

First of all, the XML you've provided isn't valid! Your root element starts with BackgroundCheck and ends with BackgroundSearchPackage:
<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
<BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
</BackgroundCheck>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>
In addition, your translation / transformation from XML to Ruby hash is incorrect. If BackgroundCheck is your root element and BackgroundSearchPackage is a child of it, your Ruby hash should look like this (rest-client accepts the string and the symbol notation):
my_xml_hash = {
"BackgroundCheck" => {
"userId"=>"username",
"password"=>"password",
"BackgroundSearchPackage" => {
"action"=>"submit",
"type"=>"demo product",
...
"PersonalData" => { ... },
...
}
}
}
You can access values in a Ruby hash like this:
# string syntax
my_xml_hash['BackgroundCheck']['BackgroundSearchPackage']['PersonalData']['DemographicDetail']['GovernmentId']
=> "123456789"
# symbol syntax
other_xml_hash[:BackgroundCheck][:BackgroundSearchPackage][:PersonalData][:DemographicDetail]['GovernmentId']
=> "123456789"
If I understood you correctly, you want to send XML via a POST request. But if you use the hash syntax, you will not achieve the result, what you probably want, because rest-client will post your data as parameters and not as XML data!
If you need to adjust only GovernmentID and issuingAuthority, I would do it as follows.
require 'rest_client'
# the customized 'GovernmentID'
government_id = '123'
# the customized 'issuingAuthority'
issuing_authority = 'FOO'
xml_template =<<END_OF_XML
<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
<BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
<ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
<PersonalData>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>John</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
<Aliases>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
</Aliases>
<DemographicDetail>
<GovernmentId issuingAuthority="#{issuing_authority}">#{government_id}</GovernmentId>
<DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
</DemographicDetail>
<PostalAddress>
<PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
<Region>UT</Region>
<Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
<DeliveryAddress>
<AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
<StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
</DeliveryAddress>
</PostalAddress>
<EmailAddress>john#test.com</EmailAddress>
<Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
</PersonalData>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>
</BackgroundCheck>
END_OF_XML
# Go to http://requestb.in/ , click on "Create a RequestBin", copy the "Bin URL" and use it for your tests ;-)
response = RestClient.post('http://your.target.tld/your/webservice', xml_template, { content_type: :xml })
puts "Response: #{response.inspect}"
REXML example:
require 'rest_client'
require 'rexml/document'
xml_string =<<END_OF_XML
<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
<BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
<ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
<PersonalData>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>John</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
<Aliases>
<PersonName>
<GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
<MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
<FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
</PersonName>
</Aliases>
<DemographicDetail>
<GovernmentId issuingAuthority="SSN">123456789</GovernmentId>
<DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
</DemographicDetail>
<PostalAddress>
<PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
<Region>UT</Region>
<Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
<DeliveryAddress>
<AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
<StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
</DeliveryAddress>
</PostalAddress>
<EmailAddress>john#test.com</EmailAddress>
<Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
</PersonalData>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>
</BackgroundCheck>
END_OF_XML
# Build XML document from string
doc = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
government_element = REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId")
# Read values:
puts government_element.text
puts government_element.attributes['issuingAuthority']
# OR directly via XPath
puts REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId").text
puts REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId/#issuingAuthority").value
# Write values:
government_element.text = 'my new text value'
government_element.attributes['issuingAuthority'] = 'my new attribute value'
# Go to http://requestb.in/ , click on "Create a RequestBin", copy the "Bin URL" and use it for your tests ;-)
response = RestClient.post('http://your.target.tld/your/webservice', doc.to_s, { content_type: :xml })
puts "Response: #{response.inspect}"
If you need to write complex XML trees, I recommend you to take a look at the following gems:
Nokogiri
LibXml Ruby
XmlSimple
REXML (Ruby built in)
Or use a templating engine like ERB, to simplify it.