Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
updating the documentation to use json by default
fixes rails#8
squashing - closes rails#11
  • Loading branch information
sfaxon committed Apr 15, 2012
1 parent c0c6b33 commit 88f2365
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 3 changed files with 69 additions and 62 deletions.
91 changes: 47 additions & 44 deletions README.rdoc
Expand Up @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ for ActiveResource::Base.
== Overview

Model classes are mapped to remote REST resources by Active Resource much the same way Active Record maps model classes to database
tables. When a request is made to a remote resource, a REST XML request is generated, transmitted, and the result
tables. When a request is made to a remote resource, a REST JSON request is generated, transmitted, and the result
received and serialized into a usable Ruby object.

== Download and installation
Expand All @@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ The latest version of Active Resource can be installed with RubyGems:

% [sudo] gem install activeresource

Source code can be downloaded as part of the Rails project on GitHub
Or added to a Gemfile:

gem 'activeresource', :require => 'active_resource'

Source code can be downloaded on GitHub

* https://github.com/rails/activeresource/tree/master/activeresource

Expand All @@ -43,15 +47,15 @@ Now the Person class is REST enabled and can invoke REST services very similarly
life cycle methods that operate against a persistent store.

# Find a person with id = 1
ryan = Person.find(1)
tyler = Person.find(1)
Person.exists?(1) # => true

As you can see, the methods are quite similar to Active Record's methods for dealing with database
records. But rather than dealing directly with a database record, you're dealing with HTTP resources (which may or may not be database records).

==== Protocol

Active Resource is built on a standard XML format for requesting and submitting resources over HTTP. It mirrors the RESTful routing
Active Resource is built on a standard JSON or XML format for requesting and submitting resources over HTTP. It mirrors the RESTful routing
built into Action Controller but will also work with any other REST service that properly implements the protocol.
REST uses HTTP, but unlike "typical" web applications, it makes use of all the verbs available in the HTTP specification:

Expand All @@ -65,108 +69,107 @@ for more general information on REST web services, see the article here[http://e

==== Find

Find requests use the GET method and expect the XML form of whatever resource/resources is/are being requested. So,
for a request for a single element, the XML of that item is expected in response:
Find requests use the GET method and expect the JSON form of whatever resource/resources is/are being requested. So,
for a request for a single element, the JSON of that item is expected in response:

# Expects a response of
#
# <person><id type="integer">1</id><attribute1>value1</attribute1><attribute2>..</attribute2></person>
# {"id":1,"first":"Tyler","last":"Durden"}
#
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.xml
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.json
#
ryan = Person.find(1)
tyler = Person.find(1)

The XML document that is received is used to build a new object of type Person, with each
XML element becoming an attribute on the object.
The JSON document that is received is used to build a new object of type Person, with each
JSON element becoming an attribute on the object.

ryan.is_a? Person # => true
ryan.attribute1 # => 'value1'
tyler.is_a? Person # => true
tyler.last # => 'Durden'

Any complex element (one that contains other elements) becomes its own object:

# With this response:
# {"id":1,"first":"Tyler","address":{"street":"Paper St.","state":"CA"}}
#
# <person><id>1</id><attribute1>value1</attribute1><complex><attribute2>value2</attribute2></complex></person>
#
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.xml
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.json
#
ryan = Person.find(1)
ryan.complex # => <Person::Complex::xxxxx>
ryan.complex.attribute2 # => 'value2'
tyler = Person.find(1)
tyler.address # => <Person::Address::xxxxx>
tyler.address.street # => 'Paper St.'

Collections can also be requested in a similar fashion

# Expects a response of
#
# <people type="array">
# <person><id type="integer">1</id><first>Ryan</first></person>
# <person><id type="integer">2</id><first>Jim</first></person>
# </people>
# [
# {"id":1,"first":"Tyler","last":"Durden"},
# {"id":2,"first":"Tony","last":"Stark",}
# ]
#
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people.xml
# for GET http://api.people.com:3000/people.json
#
people = Person.all
people.first # => <Person::xxx 'first' => 'Ryan' ...>
people.last # => <Person::xxx 'first' => 'Jim' ...>
people.first # => <Person::xxx 'first' => 'Tyler' ...>
people.last # => <Person::xxx 'first' => 'Tony' ...>

==== Create

Creating a new resource submits the XML form of the resource as the body of the request and expects
Creating a new resource submits the JSON form of the resource as the body of the request and expects
a 'Location' header in the response with the RESTful URL location of the newly created resource. The
id of the newly created resource is parsed out of the Location response header and automatically set
as the id of the ARes object.

# <person><first>Ryan</first></person>
# {"person":{"first":"Tyler","last":"Durden"}}
#
# is submitted as the body on
#
# POST http://api.people.com:3000/people.xml
# POST http://api.people.com:3000/people.json
#
# when save is called on a new Person object. An empty response is
# is expected with a 'Location' header value:
#
# Response (201): Location: http://api.people.com:3000/people/2
#
ryan = Person.new(:first => 'Ryan')
ryan.new? # => true
ryan.save # => true
ryan.new? # => false
ryan.id # => 2
tyler = Person.new(:first => 'Tyler')
tyler.new? # => true
tyler.save # => true
tyler.new? # => false
tyler.id # => 2

==== Update

'save' is also used to update an existing resource and follows the same protocol as creating a resource
with the exception that no response headers are needed -- just an empty response when the update on the
server side was successful.

# <person><first>Ryan</first></person>
# {"person":{"first":"Tyler"}}
#
# is submitted as the body on
#
# PUT http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.xml
# PUT http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.json
#
# when save is called on an existing Person object. An empty response is
# is expected with code (204)
#
ryan = Person.find(1)
ryan.first # => 'Ryan'
ryan.first = 'Rizzle'
ryan.save # => true
tyler = Person.find(1)
tyler.first # => 'Tyler'
tyler.first = 'Tyson'
tyler.save # => true

==== Delete

Destruction of a resource can be invoked as a class and instance method of the resource.

# A request is made to
#
# DELETE http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.xml
# DELETE http://api.people.com:3000/people/1.json
#
# for both of these forms. An empty response with
# is expected with response code (200)
#
ryan = Person.find(1)
ryan.destroy # => true
ryan.exists? # => false
tyler = Person.find(1)
tyler.destroy # => true
tyler.exists? # => false
Person.delete(2) # => true
Person.exists?(2) # => false

Expand Down
38 changes: 21 additions & 17 deletions lib/active_resource/associations.rb
Expand Up @@ -17,15 +17,19 @@ module Builder
# be used for resolving the association class.
#
# ==== Example for [:class_name] - option
# GET /posts/123.xml delivers following response body:
# <post>
# <title>ActiveResource now have associations</title>
# <content> ... </content>
# <comments>
# <comment> ... </comment>
# <comment> ... </comment>
# </comments>
# </post>
# GET /posts/123.json delivers following response body:
# {
# title: "ActiveResource now has associations",
# body: "Lorem Ipsum"
# comments: [
# {
# content: "..."
# },
# {
# content: "..."
# }
# ]
# }
# ====
#
# <tt>has_many :comments, :class_name => 'myblog/comment'</tt>
Expand All @@ -47,14 +51,14 @@ def has_many(name, options = {})
# be used for resolving the association class.
#
# ==== Example for [:class_name] - option
# GET /posts/123.xml delivers following response body:
# <post>
# <title>ActiveResource now have associations</title>
# <content> ... </content>
# <author>
# <name>caffeinatedBoys</name>
# </author>
# </post>
# GET /posts/1.json delivers following response body:
# {
# title: "ActiveResource now has associations",
# body: "Lorem Ipsum",
# author: {
# name: "Gabby Blogger",
# }
# }
# ====
#
# <tt>has_one :author, :class_name => 'myblog/author'</tt>
Expand Down
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion lib/active_resource/base.rb
Expand Up @@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ module ActiveResource
#
# Active Resource supports validations on resources and will return errors if any of these validations fail
# (e.g., "First name can not be blank" and so on). These types of errors are denoted in the response by
# a response code of <tt>422</tt> and an XML or JSON representation of the validation errors. The save operation will
# a response code of <tt>422</tt> and an JSON or XML representation of the validation errors. The save operation will
# then fail (with a <tt>false</tt> return value) and the validation errors can be accessed on the resource in question.
#
# ryan = Person.find(1)
Expand Down

0 comments on commit 88f2365

Please sign in to comment.