How do I call a function in Ruby? - ruby

Question

I'm trying to call but I keep getting an error. This is my code:
require 'rubygems'
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
require 'json'
class AlchemyAPI
#Setup the endpoints
##ENDPOINTS = {}
##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy'] = {}
##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy']['url'] = '/url/URLGetRankedTaxonomy'
##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy']['text'] = '/text/TextGetRankedTaxonomy'
##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy']['html'] = '/html/HTMLGetRankedTaxonomy'
##BASE_URL = 'http://access.alchemyapi.com/calls'
def initialize()
begin
key = File.read('C:\Users\KVadher\Desktop\api_key.txt')
key.strip!
if key.empty?
#The key file should't be blank
puts 'The api_key.txt file appears to be blank, please copy/paste your API key in the file: api_key.txt'
puts 'If you do not have an API Key from AlchemyAPI please register for one at: http://www.alchemyapi.com/api/register.html'
Process.exit(1)
end
if key.length != 40
#Keys should be exactly 40 characters long
puts 'It appears that the key in api_key.txt is invalid. Please make sure the file only includes the API key, and it is the correct one.'
Process.exit(1)
end
#apiKey = key
rescue => err
#The file doesn't exist, so show the message and create the file.
puts 'API Key not found! Please copy/paste your API key into the file: api_key.txt'
puts 'If you do not have an API Key from AlchemyAPI please register for one at: http://www.alchemyapi.com/api/register.html'
#create a blank file to hold the key
File.open("api_key.txt", "w") {}
Process.exit(1)
end
end
# Categorizes the text for a URL, text or HTML.
# For an overview, please refer to: http://www.alchemyapi.com/products/features/text-categorization/
# For the docs, please refer to: http://www.alchemyapi.com/api/taxonomy/
#
# INPUT:
# flavor -> which version of the call, i.e. url, text or html.
# data -> the data to analyze, either the the url, text or html code.
# options -> various parameters that can be used to adjust how the API works, see below for more info on the available options.
#
# Available Options:
# showSourceText -> 0: disabled (default), 1: enabled.
#
# OUTPUT:
# The response, already converted from JSON to a Ruby object.
#
def taxonomy(flavor, data, options = {})
unless ##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy'].key?(flavor)
return { 'status'=>'ERROR', 'statusInfo'=>'Taxonomy info for ' + flavor + ' not available' }
end
#Add the URL encoded data to the options and analyze
options[flavor] = data
return analyze(##ENDPOINTS['taxonomy'][flavor], options)
print
end
**taxonomy(text,"trees",1)**
end
In ** ** I have entered my call. Am I doing something incorrect. The error I receive is:
C:/Users/KVadher/Desktop/testrub:139:in `<class:AlchemyAPI>': undefined local variable or method `text' for AlchemyAPI:Class (NameError)
from C:/Users/KVadher/Desktop/testrub:6:in `<main>'
I feel as though I'm calling as normal and that there is something wrong with the api code itself? Although I may be wrong.

Answer 1

Yes, as jon snow says, the function (method) call must be outside of the class. The methods are defined along with the class.
Also, Options should be a Hash, not a number, as you call options[flavor] = data, which is going to cause you another problem.
I believe maybe you meant to put text in quotes, as that is one of your flavors.
Furthermore, because you declared a class, this is called an instance method, and you must make an instance of the class to use this:
my_instance = AlchemyAPI.new
my_taxonomy = my_instance.taxonomy("text", "trees")
That's enough to get it to work, it seems like you have a ways to go to get this all working though. Good luck!