Question

I’m not a Ruby guy, I just play one on television. I have to modify someone’s old Cron job to pull down some JSON and convert it into objects.

Here’s the code

raw_json = Net::HTTP.get(URI.parse("url removed to protect the innocent"))

tags = ActiveSupport::JSON.decode(raw_json)

puts tags.count

tags.count will accurately trace as 5, but THAT LINE immediately causes a crash as follows:

5 #the accurate count!
rake aborted!
undefined method `count' for false:FalseClass

What is the dealio?

Answer 1

What is the contents of raw_json? What appears to be happening is that ActiveSupport::JSON#decode is returning false (hence undefined method 'count' for false:FalseClass). I think JSON#decode only returns false when given an empty string, which would mean HTTP#get is returning an empty string. Check on raw_json and see if it contains what you expect.