2 files changed, 34 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/encoding.rb b/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/encoding.rb
index f04dcea1db..28475f84fd 100644
--- a/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/encoding.rb
+++ b/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/encoding.rb
@@ -52,6 +52,35 @@ module Qpid
       message.content
     end
 
+    # Takes as input any type and converts anything that's a symbol
+    # into a string.
+    def self.stringify(value)
+      # set the default value
+      result = value
+
+      case value
+
+      when Symbol
+        result = value.to_s
+
+      when Hash
+        result = {}
+        value.each_pair do |key, value|
+          result[stringify(key)] = stringify(value)
+        end
+
+      when Array
+        result = []
+        value.each do |element|
+          result  << stringify(element)
+        end
+
+      end
+
+      return result
+
+    end
+
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/message.rb b/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/message.rb
index d58b10b1e5..b9f54b981c 100644
--- a/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/message.rb
+++ b/qpid/cpp/bindings/qpid/ruby/lib/qpid_messaging/message.rb
@@ -283,14 +283,14 @@ module Qpid
 
       # Assigns a value to the named property.
       #
-      # *NOTE:* Both the key or the value may be a symbol, but they will
-      # both be converted to a +String+ for ease of transport.
-      #
       # ==== Options
       #
       # * name - the property name
       # * value - the property value
-      def []=(key, value); @message_impl.setProperty(key.to_s, value.to_s); end
+      def []=(key, value)
+        @message_impl.setProperty(key.to_s,
+                                  Qpid::Messaging.stringify(value))
+      end
 
       # Sets the content for the +Message+.
       #
@@ -309,18 +309,12 @@ module Qpid
       #
       def content=(content)
         content_type = nil
-        @content = content
+        @content = Qpid::Messaging.stringify(content)
         case @content
         when Hash
           content_type = "amqp/map"
-          new_content  = {}
-          content.each_pair{|key, value| new_content[key.to_s] = value.to_s}
-          @content = new_content
         when Array
-          new_content  = []
           content_type = "amqp/list"
-          content.each {|element| new_content << element.to_s}
-          @content = new_content
         end
         if content_type.nil?
           @message_impl.setContent @content