How do I convert a Rails DateTime object to an XML string?

Question

I have a DateTime object in Rails which outputs like this when called:

ruby-1.8.7-p302 > Time.now
 => Wed Nov 10 16:46:51 -0800 2010 

How do I convert the DateObject to return an XML datetime type string like this:

ruby-1.8.7-p302 > Time.now.convert_to_xml
 => 2010-11-10T16:46:51-08:00

Answer 1

Time to XML format:

Time.now.xmlschema # implemented by Rails, not stock ruby
Time.now.strftime '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z'

http://corelib.rubyonrails.org/classes/Time.html#M000281

To parse (Ruby 1.9 and beyond):

t = Time.now.xmlschema(str)

http://ruby-doc.org/core-1.9/classes/Time.html#M000329