class SecondConnection < ActiveRecord::Base

SecondConnection.establish_connection(
:adapter  => "informix",
:host     => "localhost",
:username => "hansnase",
:password => "very_secret",
:database => "ccdb@localhost"
)

self.abstract_class = true
end

“self.abstract_class = true” makes the thing actually work. Otherwise Rails seems to cache the database connection and does not switch back if you access any other classes but SecondConnection.

Yeah!

Later: Not so Yeah…

I had to establish another call to

  ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection
       logger.info { "Establishing Base Connection" }
       log_connections

I assume it’s either an Informix problem or related to the old rails version I’m driving with.
Nevertheless: It works now.

I have some XML code from that I need parts being put into a simple hash (see below).

The following small ruby snippet does exactly this.

Only thing that’s not working is the “inner_xml” part. I personally don’t need it but your mileage may vary and you may want to fix the issue (and give me a note)

require 'rubygems'
require 'hpricot'
require 'pp'

text = <<eof
<payment>
		<vat>
			<pay_vat>0</pay_vat>
			<vat_id/>
		</vat>
		<creditcard>
			<type>master</type>
			<holder>Franz Fluchsfinger</holder>
			<company/>
			<no>52660xxxxxxxxxxx79</no>
			<kpn/>
			<valid_until>09/10</valid_until>
			<data>Just some data</data>
			<xml_for_demo><inner_xml>inner text</inner_xml></xml_for_demo>
			<signature>a5f4e2shortened4b1e523ca873837c8f1c9ea66ee1924d</signature>
		</creditcard>
</payment>
eof

xml =Hpricot.XML(text)
a= xml/"creditcard/*"
h={}
a.each {|b|
	h[b.name] = b.inner_text if b.is_a? Hpricot::Elem
}
pp h	

result:

[code]]czozMDE6XCINCnJ1YnkgdGVzdC5yYg0Ke1wiY29tcGFueVwiPSZndDtcIlwiLA0KXCJ4bWxfZm9yX2RlbW9cIj0mZ3Q7XCJpbm5lciB0ZXh0XCIsDXtbJiomXX0KXCJub1wiPSZndDtcIjUyNjYweHh4eHh4eHh4eHg3OVwiLA0KXCJob2xkZXJcIj0mZ3Q7XCJGcmFueiBGbHVjaHNmaW5nZXJcIiwNClwic2lnbmF0e1smKiZdfXVyZVwiPSZndDtcImE1ZjRlMnNob3J0ZW5lZDRiMWU1MjNjYTg3MzgzN2M4ZjFjOWVhNjZlZTE5MjRkXCIsDQpcInR5cGVcIj0mZ3Q7XCJtYXN7WyYqJl19dGVyXCIsDQpcInZhbGlkX3VudGlsXCI9Jmd0O1wiMDkvMTBcIiwNClwia3BuXCI9Jmd0O1wiXCIsDQpcImRhdGFcIj0mZ3Q7XCJKdXN0IHNvbWUgZGF0YXtbJiomXX1cIn0NClwiO3tbJiomXX0=[[/code]

Btw.: I found the solution partly on http://railsforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=22055

If you come from a Perl background you will be surprised that in Ruby an array is definitively not a list. So if you want to pass a list of elements to a method that you have stored in an array, you may want to use the following idiom:
[code]]czoxMTU6XCJsaXN0ID0gW10NCmxpbmVzID0gRmlsZS5yZWFkbGluZXMoXCJGSUxFTkFNRVwiKQ0KbGluZXMuZWFjaCBkbyB8bGluZXwNCntbJiomXX1saXN0LnB1c2goUmVzdWx0Lm5ldygqbGluZS5zcGxpdChcIiBcIikpKQ0KZW5kDQpcIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]
The [code]]czoxNjpcIipsaW5lLnNwbGl0KFwiIFwiKVwiO3tbJiomXX0=[[/code] creates an element list out of the array that the split command has created.

I fear a real Rubyist would have done it in a different way but OK.

P.S. Does someone know what I'm doing wrong with the code formatting in WordPress? I'm quite sure to have included whitespaces in the code above...

I found an interesting site on the Web: http://matthall.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/how-to-execute-a-rails-controller-action-via-cron/ 

Tweaking it a bit:
[code]]czoyMTQ6XCJyZXF1aXJlIFwnLi4vY29uZmlnL2Vudmlyb25tZW50XCcNCnJlcXVpcmUgXCdwcFwnDQppZCA9IEFSR1ZbMF0NCmlmIGlkLm5pe1smKiZdfWw/DQpyYWlzZSAmbHQ7PGVvZj4NClVTQUdFOiAkMCBSRVNFTExFUl9JRA0KZW9mDQplbmQNCmFwcCA9IEFjdGlvbkNvbnRyb2xsZXJ7WyYqJl19OjpJbnRlZ3JhdGlvbjo6U2Vzc2lvbi5uZXcNCmFwcC5nZXQgXCIva3VuZGVuL3N0YXR1c19tYWlsLyN7aWR9XCI8L2VvZj5cIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]

This works fine from a Rails subdirectory and calls the same action like http://RAILSSITE/kunden/status_mail/ID