How to navigate a XML object in Ruby -

i have regular xml object created response of web service.

i need specific values specific keys... example:

<tag>  <tag2>   <tag3>    <needthisvalue>3</needthisvalue>    <tag4>     <needthisvalue2>some text</needthisvalue2>    </tag4>   </tag3>  </tag2> </tag> 

how can <needthisvalue> , <needthisvalue2> in ruby?

i'm big fan of nokogiri:

xml = <<eot <tag>  <tag2>   <tag3>    <needthisvalue>3</needthisvalue>    <tag4>     <needthisvalue2>some text</needthisvalue2>    </tag4>   </tag3>  </tag2> </tag> eot 

this creates document parsing:

require 'nokogiri' doc = nokogiri::xml(xml) 

use at find first node matching accessor:

doc.at('needthisvalue2').class # => nokogiri::xml::element 

or search find nodes matching accessor nodeset, acts array:

doc.search('needthisvalue2').class # => nokogiri::xml::nodeset doc.search('needthisvalue2')[0].class # => nokogiri::xml::element 

this uses css accessor locate first instance of each node:

doc.at('needthisvalue').text # => "3" doc.at('needthisvalue2').text # => "some text" 

again nodeset using css:

doc.search('needthisvalue')[0].text # => "3" doc.search('needthisvalue2')[0].text # => "some text" 

you can use xpath accessors instead of css if want:

doc.at('//needthisvalue').text # => "3" doc.search('//needthisvalue2').first.text # => "some text" 

go through the tutorials jumpstart. it's powerful , quite easy use.