In Rails, how do you render JSON using a view?
Try adding a view users/show.json.erb
This should be rendered when you make a request for the JSON format, and you get the added benefit of it being rendered by erb too, so your file could look something like this
{
"first_name": "<%= @user.first_name.to_json %>",
"last_name": "<%= @user.last_name.to_json %>"
}
You should be able to do something like this in your respond_to
block:
respond_to do |format|
format.json
render :partial => "users/show.json"
end
which will render the template in app/views/users/_show.json.erb
.
As others have mentioned you need a users/show.json view, but there are options to consider for the templating language...
ERB
Works out of the box. Great for HTML, but you'll quickly find it's awful for JSON.
RABL
Good solution. Have to add a dependency and learn its DSL.
JSON Builder
Same deal as RABL: Good solution. Have to add a dependency and learn its DSL.
Plain Ruby
Ruby is awesome at generating JSON and there's nothing new to learn as you can call to_json
on a Hash or an AR object. Simply register the .rb extension for templates (in an initializer):
ActionView::Template.register_template_handler(:rb, :source.to_proc)
Then create the view users/show.json.rb:
@user.to_json
For more info on this approach see http://railscasts.com/episodes/379-template-handlers