tv_rage_spec.rb

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'

# FYI this is using StaleFish, but tests should run regardless.

describe TvRage do

  context '.full_schedule' do
    it 'should call required functions' do
      TvRage.should_receive(:fetch_xml).once
      TvRage.full_schedule
    end
  end

  context '.fetch' do
    it 'should not require parameters' do
      lambda { TvRage.send(:fetch_xml, 'http://services.tvrage.com/feeds/fullschedule.php') }.should_not raise_error(ArgumentError)
    end

    it 'should return xml document' do
      TvRage.send(:fetch_xml,
                  'http://services.tvrage.com/feeds/fullschedule.php',
                  'country' => 'US',
                  '24_format' => '1').should be_a_kind_of(Hpricot::Doc)
    end
  end

end

tvrage.rb

class TvRage

  def self.full_schedule(country='US')
    doc = self.fetch_xml('http://services.tvrage.com/feeds/fullschedule.php', 'country' => country, '24_format' => '1')
    p "full_schedule - #{doc.class}"
    #doc.search('//show').each {|show| process_show(show) }
  end
  
protected

  def self.fetch_xml(url, params={})
    uri = url
    unless params.empty?
      uri << '?' + params.to_a.collect { |param| param.join('=') }.join('&')
    end
    doc = Hpricot::XML(open(uri))
    p "fetch_xml - #{doc.class}"
    return doc
  end

  def self.process_show(show_node)
  end

end

why.txt

Output:

fetch_xml - Hpricot::Doc
full_schedule - NilClass

Any idea why I cannot get fetch_xml to return anything but nil?
but if I do the doc.search in the fetch_xml function, it works flawlessly.

workaround_tvrage.rb

require 'hpricot'
require 'open-uri'

class TvRage

  class << self
    attr_accessor :doc
  end

  def self.full_schedule(country='US')
    fetch_xml('http://services.tvrage.com/feeds/fullschedule.php', 'country' => country, '24_format' => '1')
    doc.search('//show').each {|show| process_show(show) }
  end
  
protected

  def self.fetch_xml(uri, params={})
    unless params.empty?
      uri << '?' + params.to_a.collect { |param| param.join('=') }.join('&')
    end
    self.doc = open(uri) { |f| Hpricot::XML(f) }
  end

  def self.process_show(show_node)
  end

end