rails: store output of XML builder in database

Question

In a rails (2.3) app I have been building, I have an XML builder that outputs neat XML. I need to take a snapshot of this XML and store it in the database (or file) upon a certain user action.

How do I get the output of the xml builder view from in the middle of another action?

This code causes a deadlock in a single threaded application...

    uri = URI.parse("http://localhost:3000")
    response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port) {|http|
      http.head('/xmliwanttoarchive.xml')
    }

Not sure how to approach this one.. Cheers.

Answer 1

The above is the wrong way to go about invoking the xml builder.

I overrode the to_xml method instead of using an xml.builder view

def to_xml(options={})
  if options[:builder]
    build_xml(options[:builder])
  else
    xml = Builder::XmlMarkup.new
    xml.instruct!
    build_xml(xml)
  end
  xml
end

def build_xml(xml)
  xml.foo("id" => id, "title" => title) do
  xml.group("id" => group.id, "name" => group.name)
  xml.bars do
    bar.each do |session|
      xml.bar("id" => bar.id, "session_time" => bar.important_thing)
    end
  end
end

Now it can be easily used from within the code and from an action