Ruby on Rails: Trying to make multiple API requests based on an array of values. How can I insert these values as parameters into the API URL?

Question

I'm using rest-client (2.1.0-x64-mingw32) with Ruby on Rails (v6.0.3.2).

I'm trying to make multiple API requests based on an array of values.

For example, here is a short array containing the values to be inserted in the API URL as parameters:

array = ["DUBLIN%20CITY%20COUNCIL", "SOUTH%20DUBLIN%20COUNTY%20COUNCIL"]

I will then use a loop to insert these into each request resulting in the following:

https://api.valoff.ie/api/Property/GetProperties?Fields=*&LocalAuthority=DUBLIN%20CITY%20COUNCIL&CategorySelected=OFFICE&Format=json&Download=false

https://api.valoff.ie/api/Property/GetProperties?Fields=*&LocalAuthority=SOUTH%20DUBLIN%20COUNTY%20COUNCIL&CategorySelected=OFFICE&Format=json&Download=false

First, to try inserting a single value, I have tried this:

require 'rest-client'
require 'json'

localAuthority = "DUBLIN%20CITY%20COUNCIL"

response = RestClient.get('https://api.valoff.ie/api/Property/GetProperties?Fields=*&LocalAuthority=#{localAuthority}&CategorySelected=OFFICE&Format=json&Download=false')
json = JSON.parse(response)

However, this is resulting in the following error:

rails aborted!
URI::InvalidURIError: bad URI(is not URI?): "https://api.valoff.ie/api/Property/GetProperties?Fields=*&LocalAuthority=\#{localAuthority}&CategorySelected=FUEL/DEPOT&Format=json&Download=false"

The value doesn't seem to be passing correctly into the URL. How can I insert these values as parameters into the API URL?

Answer 1

Take a closer look at the error. The URL in the error message contains the string

...#{localAuthority}...

The interpolation didn't work because ruby only supports #{} syntax within double quoted strings.

Try and replace your single quotes with double quotes (")

"...#{localAuthority}..."

I'll spare you the lecture on sanitizing inputs but, please, pay attention to where you get these strings from and make sure to properly escape them.