HTTParty parsing sub-component of response

Question

the following controller action

@result = HTTParty.post(
  'https://test.co.uk/interface/search', 
  :body => [...]

has a response. The response is not being viewed in expected json parsed structure. It is a long hash...

{"versionNumber"=>"5.5", "availabilitySummary"=>{"totalAvailable"=>102, "totalOnRequest"=>0}, 
"structures"=>[... big array]

The array has a number of sub-hashes "currencyCode"=>"USD", "info", "options"=>[sub-array]. I would like to access the array of stractures first in the view form (for testing purposes, before eventually commiting results to database.)

How can this be accomplished?

Answer 1

First of all, if possible, move the HTTParty stuff to a worker. This way, you will avoid your app crashing if the server you are hiting for the data is unavailable. Otherwise, make sure to wrap the HTTParty stuff in a begin - rescue - end block and catch appropriate exceptions there. Second of all, passing the entire JSON to a view and accessing it in the view is a bad practice because it drastically slows down template rendering. Instead, create a service object that would return the data model that's easy to access in a view. Give it a name that somehow describes what it relates to - MyJsonParser is probably not the best name, but you know what I mean. Implement a #call method which returns the data for you in a format that's easy to access in the view.

my_json_parser.rb

class MyJsonPArser
  def call
    response = post_request
    parse_structures(response)
  end

  private

  def post_request
    HTTParty.post(...)
  end

  def parse_structures(response)
    structures = response["structures"]
    # do more work with the big structures array ...
  end

end

your_controller.rb

def your_method
  @data = MyJsonParser.new.call
end

your_view.html.erb

<% @data.each do |item| %>
  <div><%= item %></div>
  ...
<% end %>