Nested object decoding with json-gem

gistfile1.rb

require "rubygems"
# require "yajl/json_gem"
require "json"

class FooBarBase
  attr_accessor :name, :type
  
  def initialize(attributes = {})
    attributes.each { |attr_name, attr_value| send("#{attr_name}=", attr_value) }
  end

  def to_hash
    {:name => name, :type => type, :json_class => self.class.name}
  end

  def to_json(*args)
    to_hash.to_json(*args)
  end
  
  def self.json_create(attributes = {})
    attributes.delete("json_class")
    new(attributes)
  end
end

class Foo < FooBarBase; end
class Bar < FooBarBase; end

# create nested objects
bar = Bar.new("name" => "I'm bar!", "type" => "Bar")
foo = Foo.new("name" => "meh!", "type" => bar)

# encode them
json = foo.to_json
puts "JSON: #{json}"
# => JSON: {"type":{"type":"Bar","json_class":"Bar","name":"I'm
# bar!"},"json_class":"Foo","name":"meh!"}


# ... and get them back
foo = JSON.parse(json)
puts "Decoded object: #{foo.inspect}"
# => Decoded object: #<Foo:0x10104e7d0 @name="meh!", @type=#<Bar:0x10104f6f8
# @name="I'm bar!", @type="Bar">>