Rails - Mar 2006 - currency conversion webservice in a rails app?

Hi,

I''m interested in using a currency conversion web service in my rails
app. Does anyone have a free service that they use and like? I found
this one

http://www.webservicex.net/WS/WSDetails.aspx?CATID=2&WSID=10

I''ve tried to make a simple, plain Ruby script to connect to this and
get a conversion rate without success.

How do I integrate a webservice into my rails app? I have looked in
the Agile Rails book but can only see a tiny bit about this at the end
of the web services chapter.

All help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter

Hi,
> I''m interested in using a currency conversion web service in my
rails app.
I''m struggling trying to figure out how to use a webservice and due to
the small amount of documention I''ve found I stressing that I
won''t
get it working. I have tried the following but I get "undefined method
`web_client_api'' for #<StoreController:0x26a37f8>". I looked
in my
environment config files and the actionwebservice package is not being
skipped as far as I can tell. (In fact I''ve used it to create a web
service server so it must be working.)

I have no real idea how to set these few lines of code up and would
really appreciate some pointers.

Feeling a little let down by page 438 in the Agile Rails book,
Peter


# in my controller

  def conversion
    #con = ActionWebService::Client::Soap.new(WhatGoesHere?,
"http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate")
    #web_client_api :con, :soap,
"http://www.webservicex.net/CurrencyConvertor.asmx?WSDL"
    web_client_api :con, :soap,
"http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate"

    con.ConversionRate("CND", "USD")
    @rate = con
  end

ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of that you
should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
ActionWebService::API. In order to call third party web services you''re
better of using soap4r API directly.

Kent.

On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> > I''m interested in using a currency conversion web service in
my rails
> app.
>
> I''m struggling trying to figure out how to use a webservice and
due to
> the small amount of documention I''ve found I stressing that I
won''t
> get it working. I have tried the following but I get "undefined method
> `web_client_api'' for #<StoreController:0x26a37f8>". I
looked in my
> environment config files and the actionwebservice package is not being
> skipped as far as I can tell. (In fact I''ve used it to create a
web
> service server so it must be working.)
>
> I have no real idea how to set these few lines of code up and would
> really appreciate some pointers.
>
> Feeling a little let down by page 438 in the Agile Rails book,
> Peter
>
>
> # in my controller
>
>   def conversion
>     #con = ActionWebService::Client::Soap.new(WhatGoesHere?,
> "http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate")
>     #web_client_api :con, :soap,
> "http://www.webservicex.net/CurrencyConvertor.asmx?WSDL"
>     web_client_api :con, :soap,
"http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate
> "
>
>     con.ConversionRate("CND", "USD")
>     @rate = con
>   end
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>


--
Kent
---
http://www.datanoise.com
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Hi Kent,

Thanks for the reply.
> ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of that you
> should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
> ActionWebService::API.
OK
> In order to call third party web services you''re
> better of using soap4r API directly.
I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use it
from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I do
this?

Thanks,
Peter

If you are using ActionWebService then it should be automatically included.
Otherwise, my best bet would be config/environment.rb


On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Hi Kent,
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> > ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of that
> you
> > should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
> > ActionWebService::API.
>
> OK
>
> > In order to call third party web services you''re
> > better of using soap4r API directly.
>
> I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use it
> from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I do
> this?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>


--
Kent
---
http://www.datanoise.com
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Would you happen to have a simple example you could cut and paste for
me? I looked in my Pickaxe book and don''t see soap4r in the index. I
can see the SOAP library in the book,

Thanks,
Peter

On 3/22/06, Kent Sibilev <ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you are using ActionWebService then it should be automatically included.
> Otherwise, my best bet would be config/environment.rb
>
>
>
> On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
>  Hi Kent,
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> > ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of that
you
> > should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
> > ActionWebService::API.
>
> OK
>
> > In order to call third party web services you''re
> > better of using soap4r API directly.
>
> I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use it
> from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I do
> this?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>  http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>
>
> --
> Kent
> ---
> http://www.datanoise.com
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

Hi Peter

here''s one way of doing this :

service =
SOAP::RPC::Driver.new("http://www.webservicex.net/CurrencyConvertor.asmx","http://www.webserviceX.NET/
<http://www.webservicex.net/CurrencyConvertor.asmx%22,%22http://www.webserviceX.NET/>
")
service.default_encodingstyle SOAP::EncodingStyle::ASPDotNetHandler::Namespace
service.add_method_with_soapaction("ConversionRate",
"http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate<http://www.webservicex.net/ConversionRate>",
"FromCurrency", "ToCurrency")

rate = service.ConversionRate("EUR","GBP")
cheers

Thibaut
--
[blog] http://www.dotnetguru2.org/tbarrere

On 3/23/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Would you happen to have a simple example you could cut and paste for
> me? I looked in my Pickaxe book and don''t see soap4r in the index.
I
> can see the SOAP library in the book,
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
> On 3/22/06, Kent Sibilev <ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> > If you are using ActionWebService then it should be automatically
> included.
> > Otherwise, my best bet would be config/environment.rb
> >
> >
> >
> > On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> >  Hi Kent,
> >
> > Thanks for the reply.
> >
> > > ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of
that
> you
> > > should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
> > > ActionWebService::API.
> >
> > OK
> >
> > > In order to call third party web services you''re
> > > better of using soap4r API directly.
> >
> > I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use it
> > from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I do
> > this?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Peter
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> >  http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Kent
> > ---
> > http://www.datanoise.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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you may also want to have a look at this page (which I just discovered)

http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/How+To+Consume+.NET+WebServices/

HTH

Thibaut
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Hi Thibaut,

Thanks for the code! I tried it and no matter which currencies
combination I try I get a rate of zero. Did you try this and get a
different result? It maybe that the web service doesn''t work but I
hope not.

Thanks,
Peter

On 3/22/06, Thibaut Barr?re <thibaut.barrere@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Peter
>
> here''s one way of doing this :
>
> service = SOAP::RPC::Driver.new("
>
http://www.webservicex.net/CurrencyConvertor.asmx","http://www.webserviceX.NET/
> ")
> service.default_encodingstyle >
SOAP::EncodingStyle::ASPDotNetHandler::Namespace
> service.add_method_with_soapaction("ConversionRate", "
> http://www.webserviceX.NET/ConversionRate", "FromCurrency",
> "ToCurrency")
>
>
> rate = service.ConversionRate("EUR","GBP")cheers
>
> Thibaut
> --
> [blog] http://www.dotnetguru2.org/tbarrere
>
>
> On 3/23/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Would you happen to have a simple example you could cut and paste for
> > me? I looked in my Pickaxe book and don''t see soap4r in the
index. I
> > can see the SOAP library in the book,
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Peter
> >
> > On 3/22/06, Kent Sibilev < ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > If you are using ActionWebService then it should be automatically
> included.
> > > Otherwise, my best bet would be config/environment.rb
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > >  Hi Kent,
> > >
> > > Thanks for the reply.
> > >
> > > > ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in
sense of that
> you
> > > > should use it  only for calling your own services with
defined
> > > > ActionWebService::API.
> > >
> > > OK
> > >
> > > > In order to call third party web services you''re
> > > > better of using soap4r API directly.
> > >
> > > I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use
it
> > > from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I
do
> > > this?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Peter
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Rails mailing list
> > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > >  http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Kent
> > > ---
> > > http://www.datanoise.com
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Rails mailing list
> > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

Hi Peter

I had this zero rate a some point, can''t remember exactly under which
circumstances. I finally managed to get the good conversion rate - I''ll
check my code back at home.

Three ideas until then:
- try the code in IRB to see what''s actually returned
- try adding service.wiredump_dev = STDERR to dump the communication (on the
webservice webpage you''ll see the expected input and output)
- try ConversionRate(xxxx).to_f

Thibaut
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I just wanted to mention that the beta book "Enterprise Integration with
Ruby" by Maik Schmidt (available at the Pragmatic Programmers web site, as
usual) has an extensive section on processing XML files.  It also discusses
soap4r, REXML, and any other way of creating or consuming web services that
you can think of.

Like most of their Beta Books, it''s awfully close to being a fully
polished
product.  In short, that book rocks.

Ken

--
Kenneth A. Kousen, Ph.D.
President
Kousen IT, Inc.
http://www.kousenit.com
ken.kousen@kousenit.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org
[mailto:rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org] On Behalf Of Peter Michaux
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 7:34 PM
To: rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
Subject: Re: [Rails] Re: currency conversion webservice in a rails app?

Would you happen to have a simple example you could cut and paste for
me? I looked in my Pickaxe book and don''t see soap4r in the index. I
can see the SOAP library in the book,

Thanks,
Peter

On 3/22/06, Kent Sibilev <ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you are using ActionWebService then it should be automatically
included.
> Otherwise, my best bet would be config/environment.rb
>
>
>
> On 3/22/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
>  Hi Kent,
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> > ActionWebService::Client::Soap has a special purpose in sense of that
you
> > should use it  only for calling your own services with defined
> > ActionWebService::API.
>
> OK
>
> > In order to call third party web services you''re
> > better of using soap4r API directly.
>
> I will look into using the Ruby soap4r library. If I want to use it
> from inside rails do I have to include it somewhere? Where do I do
> this?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>  http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>
>
> --
> Kent
> ---
> http://www.datanoise.com
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
Rails mailing list
Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

Hi Thibaut,

I''ve been trying to get this working. No luck yet. With wiredump it
looks like the webservice really is returning zero. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Peter


On 3/23/06, Thibaut Barr?re <thibaut.barrere@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Peter
>
> I had this zero rate a some point, can''t remember exactly under
which
> circumstances. I finally managed to get the good conversion rate -
I''ll
> check my code back at home.
>
> Three ideas until then:
> - try the code in IRB to see what''s actually returned
> - try adding service.wiredump_dev = STDERR to dump the communication (on
the
> webservice webpage you''ll see the expected input and output)
>  - try ConversionRate(xxxx).to_f
>
> Thibaut
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

It works for me. What version of soap4r are you using?

$ ruby -rsoap/soap -e ''puts SOAP::Version''
1.5.5


On 3/24/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Hi Thibaut,
>
> I''ve been trying to get this working. No luck yet. With wiredump
it
> looks like the webservice really is returning zero. Any other ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
>
> On 3/23/06, Thibaut Barr?re <thibaut.barrere@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Peter
> >
> > I had this zero rate a some point, can''t remember exactly
under which
> > circumstances. I finally managed to get the good conversion rate -
I''ll
> > check my code back at home.
> >
> > Three ideas until then:
> > - try the code in IRB to see what''s actually returned
> > - try adding service.wiredump_dev = STDERR to dump the communication
(on
> the
> > webservice webpage you''ll see the expected input and output)
> >  - try ConversionRate(xxxx).to_f
> >
> > Thibaut
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>


--
Kent
---
http://www.datanoise.com
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Hi Kent,

It works? You got a number other than zero?

$ ruby -rsoap/soap -e ''puts SOAP::Version''
1.5.3-ruby1.8.2

Does this mean I need an upgrade? It would be strange since the Ruby
runs without error. It is the SOAP response that has the zero. I
realize it must be something wrong on my end. Maybe I have a typo. Did
you cut and paste the code?

What is soap4r? Is it just a catchy phrase meaning SOAP in the Ruby
environment? Or is it a library?

Thanks,
Peter


On 3/24/06, Kent Sibilev <ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> It works for me. What version of soap4r are you using?
>
> $ ruby -rsoap/soap -e ''puts SOAP::Version''
> 1.5.5
>
>
>
> On 3/24/06, Peter Michaux < petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Thibaut,
> >
> > I''ve been trying to get this working. No luck yet. With
wiredump it
> > looks like the webservice really is returning zero. Any other ideas?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Peter
> >
> >
> > On 3/23/06, Thibaut Barr?re <thibaut.barrere@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Peter
> > >
> > > I had this zero rate a some point, can''t remember
exactly under which
> > > circumstances. I finally managed to get the good conversion rate
- I''ll
> > > check my code back at home.
> > >
> > > Three ideas until then:
> > > - try the code in IRB to see what''s actually returned
> > > - try adding service.wiredump_dev = STDERR to dump the
communication (on
> the
> > > webservice webpage you''ll see the expected input and
output)
> > >  - try ConversionRate(xxxx).to_f
> > >
> > > Thibaut
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Rails mailing list
> > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
>
>
>
> --
>
> Kent
> ---
> http://www.datanoise.com
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

Hi Kent,

I upgraded from Ruby 1.8.2 to 1.8.4 and now I have SOAP 1.5.5. And the
example works! Thanks.

Thanks to Thibaut also.

This is a major mystery and stress I hope is now over.

Thanks again,
Peter



On 3/24/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Kent,
>
> It works? You got a number other than zero?
>
> $ ruby -rsoap/soap -e ''puts SOAP::Version''
> 1.5.3-ruby1.8.2
>
> Does this mean I need an upgrade? It would be strange since the Ruby
> runs without error. It is the SOAP response that has the zero. I
> realize it must be something wrong on my end. Maybe I have a typo. Did
> you cut and paste the code?
>
> What is soap4r? Is it just a catchy phrase meaning SOAP in the Ruby
> environment? Or is it a library?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
>
> On 3/24/06, Kent Sibilev <ksruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> > It works for me. What version of soap4r are you using?
> >
> > $ ruby -rsoap/soap -e ''puts SOAP::Version''
> > 1.5.5
> >
> >
> >
> > On 3/24/06, Peter Michaux < petermichaux@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Thibaut,
> > >
> > > I''ve been trying to get this working. No luck yet. With
wiredump it
> > > looks like the webservice really is returning zero. Any other
ideas?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Peter
> > >
> > >
> > > On 3/23/06, Thibaut Barr?re <thibaut.barrere@gmail.com>
wrote:
> > > > Hi Peter
> > > >
> > > > I had this zero rate a some point, can''t remember
exactly under which
> > > > circumstances. I finally managed to get the good conversion
rate - I''ll
> > > > check my code back at home.
> > > >
> > > > Three ideas until then:
> > > > - try the code in IRB to see what''s actually
returned
> > > > - try adding service.wiredump_dev = STDERR to dump the
communication (on
> > the
> > > > webservice webpage you''ll see the expected input
and output)
> > > >  - try ConversionRate(xxxx).to_f
> > > >
> > > > Thibaut
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Rails mailing list
> > > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Rails mailing list
> > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Kent
> > ---
> > http://www.datanoise.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
> >
> >
>