# Is ActiveResource the way to go?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-activeresource-the-way-to-go/176066>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [September 24, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-activeresource-the-way-to-go/176066 "2009-09-24T09:53:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![makire](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@makire](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/makire)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-activeresource-the-way-to-go/176066/1 "2009-09-24T09:53:28Z")

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Hi

I am building a platform where I need to communicate between Rails  
instances (as well as Java applications) and I am thinking about using  
ActiveResource. However I run into some problems with “Not all  
elements respond to to\_xml” since my XML format is nested and Array  
has no to\_xml method.

Are there any alternatives to using ActiveResource out there that  
handles this more gracefully or are there a good way to get around  
this? I started building custom accessor methods, redefining  
uppdate\_attributes and so on but that quickly becomes unwieldy.

Any tips welcome.

Regards

Erik