external JSON data fails to output anything in Jekyll - json

Question

I'm trying to fetch external JSON data into Jekyll and things are not working out.
I found this code (link to a gist), that is a fork of another gist... this just adds the external method ("from url").
I tried to morph that into my own tag plugin (or what ever they are called), in order to simplify it and possibly resolve some issues:
_plugins/externaljson.rb
require 'json'
require 'net/http'
module ExternalJSON
class ExternalJSON_tag < Liquid::Tag
def initialize(tag_name, text, tokens)
super
#text = text
end
def render(context)
if /(.+) from (.+)/.match(#text)
url = context[$2].strip
uri = URI( url )
response = Net::HTTP.get( uri )
data = JSON.parse( response )
context[$1] = JSON data
return ''
end
end
end
end
Liquid::Template.register_tag('externalJSON', ExternalJSON::ExternalJSON_tag)
...but I didn't really solve all my issues or learn much of anything from that. The only thing I think I learned is that the problem is likely somewhere between parsing the file in ruby and jekyll reading it.
I ran this test using the tag plugin code above(↑):
---
layout: default
---
<!-- Using the code I modified -->
<!-- This capture exists to combine a string and a variable, but it's just a static url for the purposes of this example -->
{% capture myUrl %}
https://api.guildwars2.com/v2/recipes/2889
{% endcapture %}
{% externalJSON jsonData from myUrl %}
{% for data in jsonData %}
{{ data}}
{% endfor %}
<!-- Jekyll's native way of handling local data files -->
<!-- I just saved that json data from the url above(↑) locally for this one -->
{% for data in site.data.example %}
{{ data }}
{% endfor %}
This test made me realize that both methods output the data slightly differently.
My external attempt:
{"type":"Meal","output_item_id":12210,"output_item_count":2,"min_rating":0,"time_to_craft_ms":1000,"disciplines":["Chef"],"flags":[],"ingredients":[{"item_id":24359,"count":1},{"item_id":12132,"count":1}],"id":2889,"chat_link":"[&CUkLAAA=]"}
Jekyll's native method (for local files)
{"type"=>"Meal", "output_item_id"=>12210, "output_item_count"=>2, "min_rating"=>0, "time_to_craft_ms"=>1000, "disciplines"=>["Chef"], "flags"=>[], "ingredients"=>[{"item_id"=>24359, "count"=>1}, {"item_id"=>12132, "count"=>1}], "id"=>2889, "chat_link"=>"[&CUkLAAA=]"}
And if I try to do for example {{ data.type }}, my external attempt returns nothing and the Jekyll method returns the value just like it should. I just can't figure out how to change the formatting or what ever the missing piece is there.
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

replace your render(context) with following:
def render(context)
if /(.+) from url (.+)/.match(#text)
resp = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI($2.strip))
data = resp.body
context[$1] = JSON data
nil
else
# syntax error
raise ArgumentError, 'ERROR:bad_syntax'
end
end
Then call the data like so:
{% externalJSON data from url http://foo.json %}
This will provide you with a data object that can be called to render individual keys.
If the data is an array, loop through the elements and call the desired key
{% for entry in data %}
{{ entry.type }}
{% endfor %}
If the data is an object (hash), call the key directly.
{{ data.type }}