Create hash of instance methods references - ruby

Question

I have a class that can parse different types of messages and what I want to do is to create a hash that will use the msg type id as the keys and different instance methods as the values.
Something like this:
class Parser
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = {1 => method_1, 2 => method_2, 3 => method_3}
#my_methods[msg_id]()
end
def method_1
end
def method_2
end
def method_3
end end
I know it's possible, but I am not sure how to do it. I tried using the self.method(:method_1) as a value but I got an error saying that method_1 is not defined.
Thank you

Answer 1

The simplest possible changes to fix your code are like this:
class Parser
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = { 1 => method(:method_1), 2 => method(:method_2), 3 => method(:method_3) }
#my_methods[msg_id].()
end
def method_1; end
def method_2; end
def method_3; end
end
I.e. use the Object#method method to get a Method object, and use the Method#call method to execute it.
However, there are a few improvements we could make. For one, your Hash associates Integers with values. But there is a better data structure which already does that: an Array. (Note: if your message IDs are not assigned sequentially, then a Hash is probably the right choice, but from the looks of your example, they are just Integers counting up from 1.)
And secondly, hardcoding the methods inside the Parser#initialize method is probably not a good idea. There should be a declarative description of the protocol, i.e. the message IDs and their corresponding method names somewhere.
class Parser
# this will make your message IDs start at 0, though
PROTOCOL_MAPPING = [:method_1, :method_2, :method_3].freeze
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = PROTOCOL_MAPPING.map(&method(:method))
#my_methods[msg_id].()
end
def method_1; end
def method_2; end
def method_3; end
end
Another possibility would be something like this:
class Parser
PROTOCOL_MAPPING = []
private_class_method def self.parser(name)
PROTOCOL_MAPPING << name
end
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = PROTOCOL_MAPPING.map(&method(:method))
#my_methods[msg_id].()
end
parser def method_1; end
parser def method_2; end
parser def method_3; end
end
Or maybe this:
class Parser
PROTOCOL_MAPPING = {}
private_class_method def self.parser(msg_id, name)
PROTOCOL_MAPPING[msg_id] = name
end
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = PROTOCOL_MAPPING.map {|msg_id, name| [msg_id, method(name)] }.to_h.freeze
#my_methods[msg_id].()
end
parser 1, def method_1; end
parser 2, def method_2; end
parser 3, def method_3; end
end

Answer 2

While provided answer would work fine, there are few "minor" issues with it:
If there'd be tons of methods, hardcoding such hash would take time, and since it is not dynamic (because you have to update the hash manually each time new method is added to the class body) it is very error prone.
Even though you are within the class, and technically have access to all methods defined with any visibility scope with implicit receiver (including private and protected), it is still a good practice to only rely on public interface, thus, I'd recommend to use Object#public_send.
So here is what I would suggest (despite the fact I do not see how the idea of having such map would work in real life):
class Parser
def initialize(msg_id)
# generate a dynamic hash with keys starting with 1
# and ending with the size of the methods count
methods_map = Hash[(1..instance_methods.size).zip(instance_methods)]
# Use public_send to ensure, only public methods are accessed
public_send(methods_map[msg_id])
end
# create a method, which holds a list of all instance methods defined in the class
def instance_methods
self.class.instance_methods(false)
end
end
After a quick thought I refactored it a bit, so that we hide the implementation of the mapping to private methods:
class Parser
def initialize(msg_id)
public_send(methods_map[msg_id])
end
# methods omitted
private
def methods_map # not methods_hash, because what we do is mapping
Hash[(1..instance_methods.size).zip(instance_methods)]
# or
# Hash[instance_methods.each.with_index(1).map(&:reverse)]
end
def instance_methods
self.class.instance_methods(false)
end
end

Answer 3

The method you're looking for is send.
Note that the values in your hash need to be symbols to be passed to send.
class Parser
def initialize(msg_id)
#my_methods = {1 => :method_1, 2 => :method_2, 3 => :method_3}
send(#my_methods[msg_id])
end
def method_1
end
def method_2
end
def method_3
end
end
Documentation here