QuickBase API Cookbook v3 - Recipe #112
Use shortcuts to get values from XML returned from QuickBase
xml shortcut
You want to extract information that may only be available in the XML returned from QuickBase, but don't want to parse the XML.
require 'QuickbaseClient'

qbc = QuickBase::Client.new

qbc.getSchema("bbqm84dzy")
puts "\n\nSchema information for QuickBase Community Forum application:\n\n"

puts "Application dbid: #{qbc.xml_app_id}"
puts "Application description: #{qbc.xml_desc}"
puts "XML for list of child tables: #{qbc.xml_chdbids}"
puts "Last child table dbid: #{qbc.xml_chdbid}"
puts "Application variables: #{qbc.xml_variables}"

qbc.getSchema("8emtadvk")
puts "\n\nSchema information for QuickBase Community Forum Messages table:\n\n"

puts "Table name: #{qbc.xml_table.elements['name'].text}"
puts "Field 1 name: #{qbc.xml_field('1').label}"
puts "Field 2 name: #{qbc.xml_field('id','2').label}"
puts "Field 3 reuired?: #{qbc.xml_field('3').required == 1}"
puts "Query 2 criteria: #{qbc.xml_query('2').qycrit}"
puts "XML for Query 1: #{qbc.xml_query('1')}"
puts "Name for Query 1: #{qbc.xml_query('1').qyname}"
puts "Next Record #ID will be: #{qbc.xml_next_record_id}"

qbc.getRecordInfo("8emtadvk","24105")
puts "\n\nInfo from Record 24105:\n\n"

puts "Number of fields in record: #{qbc.xml_num_fields}"
puts "XML of last field: #{qbc.xml_field}"
puts "ID of last field: #{qbc.xml_field.fid}"
puts "Name of last field: #{qbc.xml_field.elements['name'].text}"
Thanks to the wonders of the Ruby programming language, this can be done using the Ruby Wrapper for QuickBase by using a method in the format 'xml_?' - i.e. the method starts with xml_ and the XML element you are looking for is next, e.g. xml_desc. 
xmlShortcuts.rb
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Created on May 10, 2009 at  5:34 PM (PDT). Last updated by Quick Base on May 10, 2009 at  5:34 PM (PDT). Owned by Quick Base.
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Show fields from Show fields from Show fields from a related table
Report Name *
Description
Reports and Charts Panel
Each table has a panel listing its reports and charts, organized in groups.
Please wait while your new report is saved...
Field label
Column heading override
Justification
What does auto mean?
Fields in:

Fields to Extract:
Name for the new table:
Items in the new table are called:

When you bring additional fields into a conversion, Quickbase often finds inconsistencies. For example, say you're converting your Companies column into its own table. One company, Acme Corporation, has offices in New York, Dallas and Portland. So, when you add the City column to the conversion, Quickbase finds three different locations for Acme. A single value in the column you're converting can only match one value in any additional field. Quickbase needs you to clean up the extra cities before it can create your new table. To do so, you have one of two choices:

  • If you want to create three separate Acme records (Acme-New York, Acme-Dallas and Acme-Portland) click the Conform link at the top of the column.
  • If the dissimilar entries are mistakes (say Acme only has one office in New York and the other locations are data-entry errors) go back into your table and correct the inconsistencies—in this case, changing all locations to New York. Then try the conversion again.

Read more about converting a column into a table.

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