# To\_xml **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 30, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971 "2009-07-30T17:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/1 "2009-07-30T17:28:03Z")
Hey all, I have some problems creating a rendered xml file this is my source def show\_friends @profile = Profile.find(user) @list = @profile.send(‘friends’).find(:all, :limit =\> 20, :order =\> ‘RAND()’) @checkin = Checkin.find(:last, :conditions =\> {:profile\_id =\> @list}) @place = @checkin.place respond\_to do |format| format.html {render} format.xml { render :xml =\> @list.to\_xml(:dasherize =\> false)} end end And this give as output wouter \* ... What i want to do now is include the @place object in my xml so like this: wouter \* ... .. I know i can do :include =\> [:place] but this include all the places from that person. I only want to get the last place where the user checked in ( @checkin = Checkin.find(:last, :conditions =\> {:profile\_id =\> @list}) @place = @checkin.place) . So i really have to include this, but I have tried many things but nothing works. How can i do this? Thank you, Wouter ---
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/2 "2009-07-30T23:19:20Z")
I think creating a builder file in your views directory will be the easiest way to get exactly the xml output you want. ---
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/3 "2009-07-31T21:07:30Z")
Hey Josh, Thank you for your answer. I have implemented this in my model and controller and it works half. I will try to explain what the problem is. This is my code from profile.rb has\_many :place has\_many :checkin has\_one :last\_checkin, :class\_name =\>“Checkin”, :order =\> “created\_at desc” has\_one :last\_place, :through =\> :last\_checkin, :source =\> :place so i get the last\_checkin from my database sorted by latest, last\_place is then the place source from my last\_checkin. when i get the to\_xml and have as include :last\_checkin i see the latest checkin \ \2009-07-31T19:00:49Z\ 100 \59\ \3\ \ my places\_id is here 59 so i want to get the source of this place. But now when i do :last\_place i get this \ Namur BE 2009-07-31T18:43:50Z 57 50.4641 4.86043 Namen 2009-07-31T18:59:58Z The id of place here is 57. How does this comes and what am i doing wrong? Thank you for your help! Wouter ---
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/4 "2009-08-01T01:21:32Z")
I took a look at my own code where I test implemented this and realized I have the same problem. After watching SQL in the log and playing around in script/console I realized this was happening If I type user.last\_checkin.last\_place I was getting the correct place if I typed user.last\_place it wasn’t sorting by created\_at anymore in the query. The same thing is happening in the to\_xml… This feels a little dirty to me, but it seems to work fine. Just change the line in your model describing last\_place to include the ordered at on checkin table. has\_one :last\_place, :through =\> :last\_checkin, :source =\> :place, :order =\> ‘checkin.created\_at desc’ and you should see the correct ‘last\_place’ Let me know if this worked for you. ---
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/5 "2009-08-13T18:59:55Z")
Hey, Thank you so much! It worked SOrry for late answer but forgot to answer! THANK YOU! ---
**Author:** ![wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@wouter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wouter)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/to-xml/172971/6 "2009-07-31T07:15:08Z")
I think the most efficient way would be to create a has\_one in the model with a unique name and use the conditions or order to get just one entry. I just tested this on one of my apps and it worked pretty well. I assume here that friends are just other profiles and a profile has many checkins? so you probably have something similar in profile.rb has\_many :checkins has\_many :places, :through =\> :checkins Add (I think anyways) has\_one :last\_checkin, :class\_name =\> “CheckIn”, :order =\> ‘created\_at’ has\_one :last\_place, :through =\> :last\_checkin, :source =\> :place And you can just do @profile.send(‘friends’).find(:all, :limit =\> 20, :order =\> ‘RAND()’, include =\> :last\_place) .to\_xml(:include =\> :last\_place) - I put :last place in the finder to eager load, and again in the to\_xml so that is is included in the xml. Another way which doesn’t require the model modified or a builder and is pretty ineffiecent for sql queries is @items = @profile.send(‘friends’).collect do |f| h = f.attributes h[‘place’] = f.checkins.last.place.attributes h end @items.to\_xml Let me know if you still have problems and include the models. -Josh