Json(/hash) to ruby object?

Question

In Javascript you can access json as objects.

person = {
  name: {
    first: "Peter",
    last: "Parker"
  }
}

person.name.first

In ruby I have to use it like this:

person[:name][:first]

Is it possible to access json (and hash) as an object just like in javascript?

Answer 1

You should check out the Hashie gem. It lets you do just what you are looking for. It has a Mash class which takes JSON and XML parsed hashes and gives you object-like access. It actually does deep-dives into the hash, converting any arrays or hashes inside the hash, etc.

http://github.com/intridea/hashie

Answer 2

There is a json gem in ruby. Perhaps that will help.

http://flori.github.com/json/

Answer 3

JavaScript uses object attributes as its implementation of associative arrays. So, using Ruby's hash type is basically doing the same thing.

Answer 4

Rails has built in support for encoding hashes as JSON and decoding JSON into a hash through ActiveSupport::JSON. Using built-in support avoids the need for installing a gem.

For example:
hash = ActiveSupport::JSON.decode("{ \"color\" : \"green\" }") 
  => {"color"=>"green"} 
hash["color"]
  => "green"

For more info, see: http://www.simonecarletti.com/blog/2010/04/inside-ruby-on-rails-serializing-ruby-objects-with-json/