acts_as_serializable

by Birkir A. Barkarson <[email protected]>

Description

A gem/rails plugin for handling versioning of serialization methods (to_xml, to_json). Uses the builder pattern for a one stop multi-format serialization method, which can be versioned in-class, in a module or in seperately managed class files.

Works with Builder::XmlMarkup <= 2.1.2

Installation from source

git clone git://github.com/birkirb/acts_as_serializable.git
cd acts_as_serializable
rake install

Rails Plugin Installation

script/plugin install git://github.com/birkirb/acts_as_serializable.git

Gem Installation

gem install birkirb-acts_as_serializable --source http://gems.github.com

Examples

First:

require 'rubygems'
require 'acts_as_serializable'

Define your own serialization method:

class SimpleClass
  include Serializable
  acts_as_serializable

  def serialize(builder, options)
    builder.root do
      builder.text 'hello world'
    end
  end
end

SimpleClass.new.to_xml => "<root><text>hello world</text></root>"
SimpleClass.new.to_hash => {:text=>"hello world"}
SimpleClass.new.to_json => "{\"text\": \"hello world\"}"

Use versioned serialization methods:

class SimpleClass
  include Serializable

  def serialize_to_version_1_0(builder, options)
    builder.root do
      builder.text 'hello world'
    end
  end

  def serialize_to_version_2_0(builder, options)
    builder.texts do
      builder.text "It's a brave new world"
    end
  end

  acts_as_serializable
end

SimpleClass.new.to_xml => "<texts><text>It's a brave new world</text></texts>" 
SimpleClass.new.to_hash(:version => '1.0') => {:text=>"hello world"}

Use classes containing versioned serialization methods:

Given a model in app/models:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_serializable
end

And a serialization in app/serializations/person

module Serializable
  module Person
    class Version_1_1_0
      def self.serialize(person, builder, options)
        builder.person do
          builder.name(person.name)
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

Person.new(:name => "Birkir").to_xml => "<person><name>Birkir</name></person>"

Copyright

Author: Birkir A. Barkarson <[email protected]>
License: MIT License