[Solved] How can I convert a JSON file to a html page in Ruby on Rails? [closed]

Question

I think this recursive function does a good job at converting the JSON file to a pretty html page.

def parse(hash, iteration=0 )
    iteration += 1
    output = ""
    hash.each do |key, value|

        if value.is_a?(Hash)
            output += "<div class="entry" style="margin-left:#{iteration}em"> <span style="font-size:#{250 - iteration*20}%">#{key}: </span><br>"
            output += parse(value,iteration)
            output += "</div>"
        elsif value.is_a?(Array)
            output += "<div class="entry" style="margin-left:#{iteration}em"> <span style="font-size:#{250 - iteration*20}%">#{key}: </span><br>"
            value.each do |value|
                if value.is_a?(String) then
                    output += "<div style="margin-left:#{iteration}em">#{value} </div>"
                else
                    output += parse(value,iteration-1)
                end
            end
            output += "</div>"

        else
            output += "<div class="entry" style="margin-left:#{iteration}em"> <span style="font-weight: bold">#{key}: </span>#{value}</div>"
        end
    end
    return output
end

Here is how it works. You pass it a hash Which you get by converting the JSON file to a hash:

    jsonFile = JSON.load(open(params["url"] ))
    @output = parse(jsonFile)

And the function checks each value in the hash and does 1 of 3 things:

If it is an array outputs each array element on a new line
If it is a string outputs the key and the value on the same line
If it is another Hash calls the same function

After this all you have to do it output the @output variable to the screen on the view file:

<%= @output.html_safe %>

What the iteration does is keep track of how many times the function has been called so that the output can be indented correctly

I hope this helps anybody else who is trying to do the same thing.

Accepted Answer