Ruby: iterating over a two-dimensional hash

Question

I'm trying to create a two dimensional array like this...

@transactions = {}
@expenses.each do |expense|
  @transactions[expense.id.to_s + '-expense'] = {'identifier' => expense.id.to_s + '-expense', 'id' => expense.id, 'type' => 'expense', 'issued_on' => expense.issued_on, 'amount' => expense.amount}
end

@invoices.each do |invoice|
  @transactions[invoice.id.to_s + '-invoice'] = {'identifier' => invoice.id.to_s + '-invoice', 'id' => invoice.id, 'type' => 'invoice', 'issued_on' => invoice.issued_on, 'amount' => invoice.total}
end

But when I iterate over the array to create rows, it gives me the key first, then the whole array like this...

---

- 1-expense
- identifier: 1-expense
  id: 1
  type: expense
  issued_on: 2012-05-03
  amount: 8.99
---
- 2-expense
- identifier: 2-expense
  id: 2
  type: expense
  issued_on: 2012-05-25
  amount: 4.96
---
- 3-expense
- identifier: 3-expense
  id: 3
  type: expense
  issued_on: 2012-05-01
  amount: 56.08

I iterate to create rows (of course, im supposed to do something like transaction.id or transaction.issued_on but i debug so you can see what i mean)...

<% @transactions.each do |transaction| %>
  <tr class="<%= cycle("odd", "even") %>">
    <td>
      <%= debug transaction %>
    </td>
    <td></td>
    <td></td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
  <% end %>

so I end up with a table like this...

| 1-expense |
| identifier: 1-expense, id: 1, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-03, amount: 8.99 |
| 2-expense |
| identifier: 2-expense, id: 2, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-25, amount: 4.96 |
| 3-expense |
| identifier: 3-expense, id: 3, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-01, amount: 56.08 |

when my table is supposed to look like this

| identifier: 1-expense, id: 1, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-03, amount: 8.99 |
| identifier: 2-expense, id: 2, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-25, amount: 4.96 |
| identifier: 3-expense, id: 3, type: expense, issued_on: 2012-05-01, amount: 56.08 |

I don't know how to just create a simple table with transaction data rows and not those extra rows with the hash key.

Answer 1

You've created a hash with the {} syntax, not an array.

If you want to iterate over just the values of the hash (without the keys), you can do this:

<% @transactions.each_value do |transaction| %>
...

Or, you could use an array to hold the rows:

@transactions = []
@expenses.each do |expense|
  @transactions << {'identifier' => expense.id.to_s + '-expense', 'id' => expense.id, 'type' => 'expense', 'issued_on' => expense.issued_on, 'amount' => expense.amount}
end

@invoices.each do |invoice|
  @transactions << {'identifier' => invoice.id.to_s + '-invoice', 'id' => invoice.id, 'type' => 'invoice', 'issued_on' => invoice.issued_on, 'amount' => invoice.total}
end

And then your existing erb template should work better.