translation from XML to rest-client for POST request

The is the XML request via POST I have to make in order to receive a response:

<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
  <BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
    <ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
    <PersonalData>
      <PersonName>
        <GivenName>John</GivenName>  
        <MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
        <FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
      </PersonName>
      <Aliases>
        <PersonName>
          <GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
          <MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
          <FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
        </PersonName>
      </Aliases>
      <DemographicDetail>
        <GovernmentId issuingAuthority="SSN">123456789</GovernmentId>
        <DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
      </DemographicDetail>
      <PostalAddress>
        <PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
        <Region>UT</Region>
        <Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
        <DeliveryAddress>
          <AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
          <StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
        </DeliveryAddress>
      </PostalAddress>
      <EmailAddress>john@test.com</EmailAddress>
      <Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
    </PersonalData>
  </BackgroundCheck>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>

Using the examples on the rest-client github page I came up with the following translation using rest-client:

response = RestClient.post( 'url',
  {
    :BackgroundCheck => {
      :userID => 'username',
      :password => 'password',
    }, 
    :BackgroundSearchPackage => {
      :action => 'submit',
      :type => 'demo'
    }, 
    :ReferenceID => 'some_id_value', 
    :PersonalData => {
      :PersonalName => {
        :GivenName => 'John',
        :MiddleName => 'Q',
        :FamilyName => 'Test'
      }, 
       :Aliases => {
        :GivenName => 'Jack',
        :MiddleName => 'Quigly',
        :FamilyName => 'Example'
      }
    }, 
    :DemographicDetail => {
      :GovernmentId => {
        :issuingAuthority => "SSN"
      },  ## where do I enter the SSN?
      :DateOfBirth => '1972-12-25'
    }, 
    :PostalAddress => {
      :PostalCode => '83201',
      :Region => 'UT',
      :Municipality => 'Salt Lake City',
      :DeliveryAddress => {
        :AddressLine => '1234',
        :StreetName => 'Main Street'
      }
    }, 
    :EmailAddress => 'john@test.com', 
    :Telephone => '801-789-4229'
  })

Its my first time with XML and the rest-client gem.

My question is did I translate the XML correctly in the POST request?

More specifically how do I handle the GovernmentID and referencing the SSN entry?

Solution

First of all, the XML you've provided isn't valid! Your root element starts with BackgroundCheck and ends with BackgroundSearchPackage:

<BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
  <BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
  </BackgroundCheck>
</BackgroundSearchPackage>

In addition, your translation / transformation from XML to Ruby hash is incorrect. If BackgroundCheck is your root element and BackgroundSearchPackage is a child of it, your Ruby hash should look like this (rest-client accepts the string and the symbol notation):

my_xml_hash = {
  "BackgroundCheck" => {
    "userId"=>"username",
    "password"=>"password",
    "BackgroundSearchPackage" => {
      "action"=>"submit",
      "type"=>"demo product",
      ...
      "PersonalData" => { ... },
      ...
    }
  }
}

You can access values in a Ruby hash like this:

# string syntax
my_xml_hash['BackgroundCheck']['BackgroundSearchPackage']['PersonalData']['DemographicDetail']['GovernmentId']
 => "123456789"

# symbol syntax
other_xml_hash[:BackgroundCheck][:BackgroundSearchPackage][:PersonalData][:DemographicDetail]['GovernmentId']
 => "123456789"

If I understood you correctly, you want to send XML via a POST request. But if you use the hash syntax, you will not achieve the result, what you probably want, because rest-client will post your data as parameters and not as XML data!

If you need to adjust only GovernmentID and issuingAuthority, I would do it as follows.

require 'rest_client'

# the customized 'GovernmentID'
government_id = '123'

# the customized 'issuingAuthority'
issuing_authority = 'FOO'

xml_template =<<END_OF_XML
  <BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
    <BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
      <ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
      <PersonalData>
        <PersonName>
          <GivenName>John</GivenName>  
          <MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
          <FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
        </PersonName>
        <Aliases>
          <PersonName>
            <GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
            <MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
            <FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
          </PersonName>
        </Aliases>
        <DemographicDetail>
          <GovernmentId issuingAuthority="#{issuing_authority}">#{government_id}</GovernmentId>
          <DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
        </DemographicDetail>
        <PostalAddress>
          <PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
          <Region>UT</Region>
          <Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
          <DeliveryAddress>
            <AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
            <StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
          </DeliveryAddress>
        </PostalAddress>
        <EmailAddress>john@test.com</EmailAddress>
        <Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
      </PersonalData>
    </BackgroundSearchPackage>
  </BackgroundCheck>
END_OF_XML

# Go to http://requestb.in/ , click on "Create a RequestBin", copy the "Bin URL" and use it for your tests ;-)
response = RestClient.post('http://your.target.tld/your/webservice', xml_template, { content_type: :xml })

puts "Response: #{response.inspect}"

REXML example:

require 'rest_client'
require 'rexml/document'

xml_string =<<END_OF_XML
  <BackgroundCheck userId="username" password="password">
    <BackgroundSearchPackage action="submit" type="demo product">
      <ReferenceId>some_id_value</ReferenceId>
      <PersonalData>
        <PersonName>
          <GivenName>John</GivenName>  
          <MiddleName>Q</MiddleName>
          <FamilyName>Test</FamilyName>
        </PersonName>
        <Aliases>
          <PersonName>
            <GivenName>Jack</GivenName>
            <MiddleName>Quigley</MiddleName>
            <FamilyName>Example</FamilyName>
          </PersonName>
        </Aliases>
        <DemographicDetail>
          <GovernmentId issuingAuthority="SSN">123456789</GovernmentId>
          <DateOfBirth>1973-12-25</DateOfBirth>
        </DemographicDetail>
        <PostalAddress>
          <PostalCode>83201</PostalCode>
          <Region>UT</Region>
          <Municipality>Salt Lake City</Municipality>
          <DeliveryAddress>
            <AddressLine>1234</AddressLine>
            <StreetName>Main Street</StreetName>
          </DeliveryAddress>
        </PostalAddress>
        <EmailAddress>john@test.com</EmailAddress>
        <Telephone>801-789-4229</Telephone>
      </PersonalData>
    </BackgroundSearchPackage>
  </BackgroundCheck>
END_OF_XML

# Build XML document from string
doc = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
government_element = REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId")

# Read values:
puts government_element.text
puts government_element.attributes['issuingAuthority']
# OR directly via XPath
puts REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId").text
puts REXML::XPath.first(doc, "//GovernmentId/@issuingAuthority").value

# Write values: 
government_element.text = 'my new text value'
government_element.attributes['issuingAuthority'] = 'my new attribute value'

# Go to http://requestb.in/ , click on "Create a RequestBin", copy the "Bin URL" and use it for your tests ;-)
response = RestClient.post('http://your.target.tld/your/webservice', doc.to_s, { content_type: :xml })

puts "Response: #{response.inspect}"

If you need to write complex XML trees, I recommend you to take a look at the following gems:

Nokogiri
LibXml Ruby
XmlSimple
REXML (Ruby built in)

Or use a templating engine like ERB, to simplify it.