# Json views **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/json-views/173135 "2009-08-03T20:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Nicholas_W)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/json-views/173135/1 "2009-08-03T20:07:59Z")
Hi \*, I’m writing an API for my application, but I can’t figure out how to behave with the json frontend, where I need to do something like @object.image.url. Should I write a .json view or there’s some special method for this kind of problems ? I see to\_json has a handy methods option that should call the method and put it in the output, but the problem here is that image is a Paperclip object (that contains also my S3 keys, so it’s really not the case :p) and I need to call the url method. Suggestions ? ngw ---
**Author:** ![Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Nicholas_W)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/json-views/173135/2 "2009-08-03T20:11:30Z")
On Monday 03 August 2009, Nicholas W. wrote: > Hi \*, I’m writing an API for my application, but I can’t figure out > how to behave with the json frontend, where I need to do something > like @object.image.url. > Should I write a .json view or there’s some special method for this > kind of problems ? In case you decide that JSON views are what you want, have a look at a (trivial) template handler I wrote to help with just that > **[GitHub - mschuerig/ruby\_template\_handler: A Rails view template handler that...](https://github.com/mschuerig/ruby_template_handler)** > > A Rails view template handler that renders Ruby objects to JSON. - GitHub - mschuerig/ruby\_template\_handler: A Rails view template handler that renders Ruby objects to JSON. Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/) ---
**Author:** ![Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Nicholas_W)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/json-views/173135/3 "2009-08-04T19:04:47Z")
Il giorno 03/ago/09, alle ore 20:10, Michael S. ha scritto: > [GitHub - mschuerig/ruby\_template\_handler: A Rails view template handler that renders Ruby objects to JSON.](http://github.com/mschuerig/ruby_template_handler) Nice, thanks a lot. What do I have to include to use it ? Right now by following the example my only result is to have a string in return. ngw ---
**Author:** ![Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@Nicholas\_W](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Nicholas_W)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/json-views/173135/4 "2009-08-04T21:35:15Z")
On Tuesday 04 August 2009, Nicholas W. wrote: > > [GitHub - mschuerig/ruby\_template\_handler: A Rails view template handler that renders Ruby objects to JSON.](http://github.com/mschuerig/ruby_template_handler) > > Nice, thanks a lot. > What do I have to include to use it ? You can install the handler either as a plugin using script/plugin or as a gem. In the latter case you have to add config.gem “mschuerig-ruby\_template\_handler”, :lib =\> ‘ruby\_template\_handler’ to config/environment.rb. > Right now by following the > example my only result is to have a string in return. Well, what else do you want to return? The body of your response is always going to be a string, in this case a string in JSON format. Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/)