HTTParty with XML example

httparty-xml-example.rb

require 'httparty'

response = HTTParty.get('http://www.google.com/ig/api?weather=Chicago')
data = response.parsed_response
puts data['xml_api_reply']['weather']['current_conditions']['condition']['data']

httparty-xml-example2.rb

require 'httparty'
response = HTTParty.get('http://www.google.com/ig/api?weather=Chicago')
forecast_conditions = response.parsed_response['xml_api_reply']['weather']['forecast_conditions']

forecast_conditions.each do |condition|
  puts "The forecast for #{condition['day_of_week']['data']} with a high of #{condition['high']['data']}, and a low of #{condition['low']['data']}. It will be #{condition['condition']['data']}"
end

• Don't forget to put httparty in your Gemfile, and run bundle install (or gem install httparty if you're just playing with this in irb)
• I also recommend that you install/bundle libxml-ruby as well. This is the fastest xml parser that I've found, and if available/required HTTParty will use this automatically.
• The parsed_response method turns the XML into a ruby hash for you, making it super easy to work with. Else, you'd have to use something like XPath (which is a really neat technology, but kind of a drag to use in practice)
• XML, like HTML is nested, so you have to work your way down the path to the data you want.

In this example, is forecast_conditions a root node? or is it several nodes? Thanks for this great example!

EDIT: Also, how would you get an attribute vs innerHTML?

For a use case I would like to edit the XML response and make another post request.
What is the best way to go about this?

1. Should I construct the XML back again from the hash?
2. Can I somehow get the response in XML format itself and edit the data?

Which would be the better approach?