Ruby metaprogramming with method_missing to make a HTML DSL - ruby

I'm learning metaprogramming and am trying to make a little DSL to generate HTML. The #result instance variable is not generating the correct answer because when the h1 method is called, the #result instance variable is reset. Is there an elegant way to deal with these 'nested' method calls (I know Ruby doesn't technically have nested methods). Here's my code:
class HtmlDsl
attr_reader :result
def initialize(&block)
instance_eval(&block)
end
private
def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
tag = name.to_s
content = args.first
#result = "<#{tag}>#{block_given? ? instance_eval(&block) : content}</#{tag}>"
end
end
html = HtmlDsl.new do
html do
head do
title 'yoyo'
end
body do
h1 'hey'
end
end
end
p html.result # => "<html><body><h1>hey</h1></body></html>"
# desired result # => "<html><head><title>yoyo</title></head><body><h1>hey</h1></body></html>"

Your problem is not that #result is reset, only that you add into the #result the return value of instance_eval(&block), which is the last line in the block, and not the aggregated block. This should work better (although not perfectly):
class HtmlDsl
attr_reader :result
def initialize(&block)
instance_eval(&block)
end
private
def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
tag = name.to_s
content = args.first
(#result ||= '') << "<#{tag}>"
if block_given?
instance_eval(&block)
else
#result << content
end
#result << "</#{tag}>"
end
end
So now:
html = HtmlDsl.new do
html do
head do
title 'yoyo'
end
body do
h1 'hey'
end
end
end
p html.result
#=> "<html><head><title>yoyo</title></head><body><h1>hey</h1></body></html>"
What I've done is that each call actually renders a fragment to the #result, so inner calls render inner fragments, each wrapping its own inner fragments with tags.

Related

Creating Ruby builder object with re-usable code

I'm working to create a few Ruby builder objects, and thinking on how I could reuse some of Ruby's magic to reduce the logic of the builder to a single class/module. It's been ~10 years since my last dance with the language, so a bit rusty.
For example, I have this builder:
class Person
PROPERTIES = [:name, :age]
attr_accessor(*PROPERTIES)
def initialize(**kwargs)
kwargs.each do |k, v|
self.send("#{k}=", v) if self.respond_to?(k)
end
end
def build
output = {}
PROPERTIES.each do |prop|
if self.respond_to?(prop) and !self.send(prop).nil?
value = self.send(prop)
# if value itself is a builder, evalute it
output[prop] = value.respond_to?(:build) ? value.build : value
end
end
output
end
def method_missing(m, *args, &block)
if m.to_s.start_with?("set_")
mm = m.to_s.gsub("set_", "")
if PROPERTIES.include?(mm.to_sym)
self.send("#{mm}=", *args)
return self
end
end
end
end
Which can be used like so:
Person.new(name: "Joe").set_age(30).build
# => {name: "Joe", age: 30}
I would like to be able to refactor everything to a class and/or module so that I could create multiple such builders that'll only need to define attributes and inherit or include the rest (and possibly extend each other).
class BuilderBase
# define all/most relevant methods here for initialization,
# builder attributes and object construction
end
module BuilderHelper
# possibly throw some of the methods here for better scope access
end
class Person < BuilderBase
include BuilderHelper
PROPERTIES = [:name, :age, :email, :address]
attr_accessor(*PROPERTIES)
end
# Person.new(name: "Joe").set_age(30).set_email("joe#mail.com").set_address("NYC").build
class Server < BuilderBase
include BuilderHelper
PROPERTIES = [:cpu, :memory, :disk_space]
attr_accessor(*PROPERTIES)
end
# Server.new.set_cpu("i9").set_memory("32GB").set_disk_space("1TB").build
I've been able to get this far:
class BuilderBase
def initialize(**kwargs)
kwargs.each do |k, v|
self.send("#{k}=", v) if self.respond_to?(k)
end
end
end
class Person < BuilderBase
PROPERTIES = [:name, :age]
attr_accessor(*PROPERTIES)
def build
...
end
def method_missing(m, *args, &block)
...
end
end
Trying to extract method_missing and build into the base class or a module keeps throwing an error at me saying something like:
NameError: uninitialized constant BuilderHelper::PROPERTIES
OR
NameError: uninitialized constant BuilderBase::PROPERTIES
Essentially the neither the parent class nor the mixin are able to access the child class' attributes. For the parent this makes sense, but not sure why the mixin can't read the values inside the class it was included into. This being Ruby I'm sure there's some magical way to do this that I have missed.
Help appreciated - thanks!
I reduced your sample to the required parts and came up with:
module Mixin
def say_mixin
puts "Mixin: Value defined in #{self.class::VALUE}"
end
end
class Parent
def say_parent
puts "Parent: Value defined in #{self.class::VALUE}"
end
end
class Child < Parent
include Mixin
VALUE = "CHILD"
end
child = Child.new
child.say_mixin
child.say_parent
This is how you could access a CONSTANT that lives in the child/including class from the parent/included class.
But I don't see why you want to have this whole Builder thing in the first place. Would an OpenStruct not work for your case?
Interesting question. As mentioned by #Pascal, an OpenStruct might already do what you're looking for.
Still, it might be more concise to explicitly define the setter methods. It might also be clearer to replace the PROPERTIES constants by methods calls. And since I'd expect a build method to return a complete object and not just a Hash, I renamed it to to_h:
class BuilderBase
def self.properties(*ps)
ps.each do |property|
attr_reader property
define_method :"set_#{property}" do |value|
instance_variable_set(:"##{property}", value)
#hash[property] = value
self
end
end
end
def initialize(**kwargs)
#hash = {}
kwargs.each do |k, v|
self.send("set_#{k}", v) if self.respond_to?(k)
end
end
def to_h
#hash
end
end
class Person < BuilderBase
properties :name, :age, :email, :address
end
p Person.new(name: "Joe").set_age(30).set_email("joe#mail.com").set_address("NYC").to_h
# {:name=>"Joe", :age=>30, :email=>"joe#mail.com", :address=>"NYC"}
class Server < BuilderBase
properties :cpu, :memory, :disk_space
end
p Server.new.set_cpu("i9").set_memory("32GB").set_disk_space("1TB").to_h
# {:cpu=>"i9", :memory=>"32GB", :disk_space=>"1TB"}
I think no need to declare PROPERTIES, we can create a general builder like this:
class Builder
attr_reader :build
def initialize(clazz)
#build = clazz.new
end
def self.build(clazz, &block)
builder = Builder.new(clazz)
builder.instance_eval(&block)
builder.build
end
def set(attr, val)
#build.send("#{attr}=", val)
self
end
def method_missing(m, *args, &block)
if #build.respond_to?("#{m}=")
set(m, *args)
else
#build.send("#{m}", *args, &block)
end
self
end
def respond_to_missing?(method_name, include_private = false)
#build.respond_to?(method_name) || super
end
end
Using
class Test
attr_accessor :x, :y, :z
attr_reader :w, :u, :v
def set_w(val)
#w = val&.even? ? val : 0
end
def add_u(val)
#u = val if val&.odd?
end
end
test1 = Builder.build(Test) {
x 1
y 2
z 3
} # <Test:0x000055b6b0fb2888 #x=1, #y=2, #z=3>
test2 = Builder.new(Test).set(:x, 1988).set_w(6).add_u(2).build
# <Test:0x000055b6b0fb23b0 #x=1988, #w=6>

method_missing and define_method in Ruby

There is the following code:
class MyOpenStruct
def initialize(initial_values = {})
#values = initial_values
end
def _singleton_class
class << self
self
end
end
def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
if name[-1] == "="
base_name = name[0..-2].intern
puts "add_method_to_set"
self.class.add_method_to_set(base_name)
#values[base_name] = args[0]
else
puts "add_method_to_get"
self.class.add_method_to_get(base_name)
#values[name]
end
end
def self.add_method_to_get(name)
define_method(name) do |value|
#values[name]
end
end
def self.add_method_to_set(name)
define_method(name) do |value|
#values[name] = value
end
end
end
obj1 = MyOpenStruct.new(name: "Dave")
obj1.address = "1"
obj2 = MyOpenStruct.new(name: "Dave")
obj2.address = "2"
I want to do the following thing: when I execute some method (obj1.address) and it's missing I want to add this method to my MyOpenStruct class. But when I execute my code I get 'missing' two times instead of one. Why? I don't understand. Please explain it to me. Thanks.
#koffeinfrei identified one problem with you code, but I found a few others. Below I have what I believe to be a corrected version. I have also suggested an alternative way to structure the code. My main advice is to pull out the dynamic creation of instance methods, as that is quite generic. You might even put that in a module with other methods that you could include as needed.
Your code with repairs
class MyOpenStruct
def initialize(initial_values = {})
#values = initial_values
end
def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
puts "in mm, name = #{name}"
if name[-1] == "="
base_name = name[/\w+/]
puts "add_method_to_set: '#{name}'"
self.class.add_method_to_set(base_name)
#values[base_name.to_sym] = args[0]
else
puts "add_method_to_get: '#{name}'"
self.class.add_method_to_get(name)
#values[name.to_sym]
end
end
def self.add_method_to_get(name)
define_method(name.to_sym) do
#values[name.to_sym]
end
end
def self.add_method_to_set(name)
define_method((name+'=').to_sym) do |value|
#values[name.to_sym] = value
end
end
end
Alternative construction
def create_instance_eval(klass, method, &block)
klass.class_eval { define_method(method, &block) }
end
class MyOpenStruct
def initialize(initial_values = {})
#values = initial_values
end
def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
if name[-1] == "="
base_name = name[/\w+/]
method_name = (base_name+'=').to_sym
puts "create method '#{method_name}'"
method = create_instance_eval(self.class, method_name) do |value|
#values[base_name.to_sym] = value
end
send(method, args[0])
else
method_name = name.to_sym
puts "create method '#{method_name}'"
method = create_instance_eval(self.class, method_name) do
#values[method_name]
end
send(method)
end
end
end
Example
MyOpenStruct.instance_methods(false)
#=> [:method_missing]
obj1 = MyOpenStruct.new(name: "Dave")
#=> #<MyOpenStruct:0x00000102805b58 #values={:name=>"Dave"}>
obj1.address = "1"
# create method 'address='
#=> "1"
MyOpenStruct.instance_methods(false)
#=> [:method_missing, :address=]
obj2 = MyOpenStruct.new(name: "Mitzy")
#=> #<MyOpenStruct:0x00000101848878 #values={:name=>"Mitzy"}>
obj2.address = 2
#=> 2
obj2.address
# create method 'address'
# => 2
MyOpenStruct.instance_methods(false)
$#=> [:method_missing, :address=, :address]
obj1.instance_variable_get(:#values)
#=> {:name=>"Dave", :address=>"1"}
obj2.instance_variable_get(:#values)
#=> {:name=>"Mitzy", :address=>2}
The method name for the setter method needs to have the trailing =, so you need to define the method with the name instead of the base_name.
self.class.add_method_to_set(name)

Ruby: automatically wrapping methods in event triggers

Heres what I have/want:
module Observable
def observers; #observers; end
def trigger(event, *args)
good = true
return good unless (#observers ||= {})[event]
#obersvers[event].each { |e| good = false and break unless e.call(self, args) }
good
end
def on(event, &block)
#obersvers ||= {}
#obersvers[event] ||= []
#observers[event] << block
end
end
class Item < Thing
include Observable
def pickup(pickuper)
return unless trigger(:before_pick_up, pickuper)
pickuper.add_to_pocket self
trigger(:after_pick_up, pickuper)
end
def drop(droper)
return unless trigger(:before_drop, droper)
droper.remove_from_pocket self
trigger(:after_drop, droper)
end
# Lots of other methods
end
# How it all should work
Item.new.on(:before_pickup) do |item, pickuper|
puts "Hey #{pickuper} thats my #{item}"
return false # The pickuper never picks up the object
end
While starting on trying to create a game in Ruby, I thought it would be great if it could be based all around Observers and Events. The problem is have to write all of these triggers seems to be a waste, as it seems like a lot of duplicated code. I feel there must be some meta programming method out there to wrap methods with functionality.
Ideal Sceanrio:
class CustomBaseObject
class << self
### Replace with correct meta magic
def public_method_called(name, *args, &block)
return unless trigger(:before_+name.to_sym, args)
yield block
trigger(:after_+name.to_sym, args)
end
###
end
end
And then I have all of my object inherit from this Class.
I'm still new to Ruby's more advanced meta programming subjects, so any knowledge about this type of thing would be awesome.
There are a several ways to do it with the help of metaprogramming magic. For example, you can define a method like this:
def override_public_methods(c)
c.instance_methods(false).each do |m|
m = m.to_sym
c.class_eval %Q{
alias #{m}_original #{m}
def #{m}(*args, &block)
puts "Foo"
result = #{m}_original(*args, &block)
puts "Bar"
result
end
}
end
end
class CustomBaseObject
def test(a, &block)
puts "Test: #{a}"
yield
end
end
override_public_methods(CustomBaseObject)
foo = CustomBaseObject.new
foo.test(2) { puts 'Block!' }
# => Foo
Test: 2
Block!
Bar
In this case, you figure out all the required methods defined in the class by using instance_methods and then override them.
Another way is to use so-called 'hook' methods:
module Overrideable
def self.included(c)
c.instance_methods(false).each do |m|
m = m.to_sym
c.class_eval %Q{
alias #{m}_original #{m}
def #{m}(*args, &block)
puts "Foo"
result = #{m}_original(*args, &block)
puts "Bar"
result
end
}
end
end
end
class CustomBaseObject
def test(a, &block)
puts "Test: #{a}"
yield
end
include Overrideable
end
The included hook, defined in this module, is called when you include that module. This requires that you include the module at the end of the class definition, because included should know about all the already defined methods. I think it's rather ugly :)

Passing blocks into nested method within class_eval in Ruby?

I want to be able to define a block, and later evaluate that block from within a dynamically generated module/class. It seems like I could accomplish this somehow using eval and block.binding, but I haven't figured it out.
I have this as the base:
def define_module(name, &block)
name = name.to_s.gsub(/\/(.?)/) { "::#{$1.upcase}" }.gsub(/(?:^|_)(.)/) { $1.upcase }
parts = name.split("::")
parts.each_with_index do |part, index|
sub_name = parts[0..index].join("::")
eval("module #{sub_name}; end")
end
clazz = eval(name)
clazz.class_eval(&block) if block_given?
clazz
end
def add_module(name, &block)
module_block = block
define_module(name).class_eval <<-EOF
def self.included(base)
base.class_eval do
# something like this, I'm stuck
instance_eval(&#{module_block})
end
end
EOF
end
And I want to use it like this:
add_module("My::Library") do
def a_method
"added 'a_method'"
end
end
class ::User
include My::Library
end
user = ::User.new
assert_equal "added 'a_method'", user.a_method
Is there any way to do something like that?
This works:
def add_module(name, &block)
define_module(name).class_eval do
class << self; self; end.send(:define_method, :included) { |base|
base.class_eval(&block)
}
end
end
add_module("My::Library") do
def a_method
"added 'a_method'"
end
end
class ::User
include My::Library
end
user = ::User.new
user.a_method #=> "added a_method"
EDIT:
Why don't you just do this instead? Much simpler, and it's actually the job of a module:
def add_module(name, &block)
define_module(name).class_eval(&block)
end

Customising attr_reader to do lazy instantiation of attributes

(Big edit, I got part of the way there…)
I've been hacking away and I've come up with this as a way to specify things that need to be done before attributes are read:
class Class
def attr_reader(*params)
if block_given?
params.each do |sym|
define_method(sym) do
yield
self.instance_variable_get("##{sym}")
end
end
else
params.each do |sym|
attr sym
end
end
end
end
class Test
attr_reader :normal
attr_reader(:jp,:nope) { changethings if #nope.nil? }
def initialize
#normal = "Normal"
#jp = "JP"
#done = false
end
def changethings
p "doing"
#jp = "Haha!"
#nope = "poop"
end
end
j = Test.new
p j.normal
p j.jp
But changethings isn't being recognised as a method — anyone got any ideas?
You need to evaluate the block in the context of the instance. yield by default will evaluate it in its native context.
class Class
def attr_reader(*params, &blk)
if block_given?
params.each do |sym|
define_method(sym) do
self.instance_eval(&blk)
self.instance_variable_get("##{sym}")
end
end
else
params.each do |sym|
attr sym
end
end
end
end
Here's another alternative approach you can look at. It's not as elegant as what you're trying to do using define_method but it's maybe worth looking at.
Add a new method lazy_attr_reader to Class
class Class
def lazy_attr_reader(*vars)
options = vars.last.is_a?(::Hash) ? vars.pop : {}
# get the name of the method that will populate the attribute from options
# default to 'get_things'
init_method = options[:via] || 'get_things'
vars.each do |var|
class_eval("def #{var}; #{init_method} if !defined? ##{var}; ##{var}; end")
end
end
end
Then use it like this:
class Test
lazy_attr_reader :name, :via => "name_loader"
def name_loader
#name = "Bob"
end
end
In action:
irb(main):145:0> t = Test.new
=> #<Test:0x2d6291c>
irb(main):146:0> t.name
=> "Bob"
IMHO changing the context of the block is pretty counter-intuitive, from a perspective of someone who would use such attr_reader on steroids.
Perhaps you should consider plain ol' "specify method name using optional arguments" approach:
def lazy_attr_reader(*args, params)
args.each do |e|
define_method(e) do
send(params[:init]) if params[:init] && !instance_variable_get("##{e}")
instance_variable_get("##{e}")
end
end
end
class Foo
lazy_attr_reader :foo, :bar, :init => :load
def load
#foo = 'foo'
#bar = 'bar'
end
end
f = Foo.new
puts f.bar
#=> bar

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