Rails 4 API, how to create a URL from a JSON response? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm working on an API where I have a few routes setup, ie
http://localhost:3000/phone_number_lookup/1234567890
which can return a JSON response like so:
{
"AccountCode": "1234",
"AccountID": 13579,
"BalanceCurrent": "5000",
"Phone": "1234567890",
"Id": 123123,
"SerialNumber": "Y2K2000XY2016",
"MACADDRESS": "y2k2000xy2016",
"EQUIPMENTTYPE_Name": "Motorola DCX100 HD DVR",
"ADDRESS_Zip": "90210",
"ItemID": 12345,
"iVideoSystemID": 1000001
"id": null
}
The next 'step' of the API consumption would be, 'given the initially returned response, use 4 of those parameters and pass them into a remote URL that will then do something.'
Like so:
http://myremoteURL.com/Service/?Param1=sSerialNumber&Param2=iVideoSystemID&Param3=sMAC&Param4=ItemID
It would be one thing to just set up a route that takes 4 parameters, but the route needs to be contingent on what the initial JSON response was.
What is the proper way to do this?

Answer 1

First of all, you'll have to convert your JSON to hash. Something like this will do:
[7] pry(main)> hash=JSON.parse(json)
=> {"AccountCode"=>"1234",
"AccountID"=>13579,
"BalanceCurrent"=>"5000",
"Phone"=>"1234567890",
"Id"=>123123,
"SerialNumber"=>"Y2K2000XY2016",
"MACADDRESS"=>"y2k2000xy2016",
"EQUIPMENTTYPE_Name"=>"Motorola DCX100 HD DVR",
"ADDRESS_Zip"=>"90210",
"ItemID"=>12345,
"iVideoSystemID"=>1000001,
"id"=>nil}
Then you'll have to choose 4 parameters to send. I just took last 4 parameters
[14] pry(main)> chosen_params = hash.slice("ItemID", "id", "iVideoSystemID", "ADDRESS_Zip")
=> {"ItemID"=>12345, "id"=>nil, "iVideoSystemID"=>1000001, "ADDRESS_Zip"=>"90210"}
Then you'll have to pass them to your remote url. This can be done using a helper described here. Then you'll have to just do something like generate_url("YOUR-URL-ADDR-HERE", chosen_params).
At this point you might want to change the generate_url helper in a way you need it to be to generate the url you need. Maybe it should take third parameter called action which will then generate url like http://www.google.com/action?{chosen_params}
The result will be:
[23] pry(main)> generate_url("http://www.google.com", chosen_params)
=> "http://www.google.com?ADDRESS_Zip=90210&ItemID=12345&iVideoSystemID=1000001&id="
Hope it helps. Let me know about any questions.

Answer 2

Could you modify the JSON response?
{
"AccountCode": "1234",
"AccountID": 13579,
...
"id": null
"follow_up_url": "http://myremoteURL.com/Service/?Param1=sSerialNumber&Param2=iVideoSystemID&Param3=sMAC&Param4=ItemID"
}
This allows your JSON to tell the requester "where to go next".