Generating ruby code from JSON or other ruby objects ...

types.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

def typecast(obj)
  if obj.is_a?(Hash) || obj.is_a?(Array)
    # hashes and arrays will be inspected to display properly
    obj.inspect
  elsif obj.is_a?(Fixnum)    || obj.is_a?(Float)     ||
        obj.is_a?(TrueClass) || obj.is_a?(FalseClass)
    # these are just plain (that is obj.to_s does what we want)
    obj
  elsif obj.is_a?(Symbol)
    # symbols should remain symbols
    ":#{obj}"
  else
    # must be a string so let's try to convert to a ruby type
    case obj
    when /^:/
      # found symbol
      obj
    when /^\{/
      # found hash
      obj.inspect
    when /^\[/
      # found array
      obj.inspect
    when /^true$|^false$/
      # found boolean
      obj
    when /[0-9.]+/
      # found Fixnum or Floar
      obj
    else
      # leave it as a string
      "\"#{obj}\""
    end    
  end    
end

require 'json'

json = '{
  "boolean_true_test": "true",
  "boolean_false_test": "false",
  "integer_test": "42",
  "fixnum_test": "10.42",
  "symbol_test": ":shell",
  "string_test": "string_value",
  "hash_test": {
    "string_type": "string_value",
    "array_type": [
      "1", "2", "3"
    ]
  },
  "array_test": [ "will", "libby", "jack" ]
}'

puts "JSON testing ..."
JSON.parse(json).each do |k,v|
  value = typecast(v)
  puts "#{k} --> #{value}"
end

puts

puts "Ruby type (wrapper cookbook) testing ..."
puts "True: " + typecast(true).to_s
puts "False: " + typecast(false).to_s
puts "Fixnum: " + typecast(10).to_s
puts "Float: " + typecast(10.42).to_s
puts "Hash: " + typecast({ "foo" => "bar" }).to_s
puts "Array: " + typecast([ "foo", "bar", "baz"]).to_s
puts "Symbol: "  + typecast(:shell).to_s

types.rb output

JSON testing ...
boolean_true_test --> true
boolean_false_test --> false
integer_test --> 42
fixnum_test --> 10.42
symbol_test --> :shell
string_test --> "string_value"
hash_test --> {"string_type"=>"string_value", "array_type"=>["1", "2", "3"]}
array_test --> ["will", "libby", "jack"]

Ruby type (wrapper cookbook testing) ...
True: true
False: false
Fixnum: 10
Float: 10.42
Hash: {"foo"=>"bar"}
Array: ["foo", "bar", "baz"]
Symbol: :shell