I am writing something as follows
module Test
def self.print(*args)
p 'something'
p args
end
end
def print(*args)
p "print something"
p args
end
def method_caller(method_name, *args)
send(method_name, *args)
end
method_caller(:print, 2) # this works fine
method_caller("print", 2, 3) # this one also
method_caller("Test.print", 2) # this doesn't work
Basically, I pass method_caller the name of a method and some arguments and then I use the send method to actually invoke the method.
I usually pass in the name of the method as a symbol, but how would I deal with Test.print? I imagine at some point I might be passing in objects and having them call their own methods.
The method I would like to invoke could be literally anywhere.
UPDATE:
Trying out each suggestion, the explicit receiver looks like a good way to do it since it's obvious what is happening, but what about christianblais' idea. I changed it to avoid the eval call as such
def method_caller(method_name, *args)
if method_name.is_a?(String)
chain = method_name.split('.')
obj, method_name = Object.const_get(chain[0...-1].join('.')), chain[-1]
obj.send(method_name, *args)
else
send(method_name, args)
end
end
Which means I can just say method_caller("Test.print", 2), but maybe there are some gotchas...
Well, why don't you give your method_caller a receiver argument?
def method_caller(receiver, method_name, *args)
receiver.send(method_name, *args)
end
method_caller(Test, :print, 2)
The other calls need to use self as the receiver, which is implicit in your current implementation. But finally all this gives you is an incomplete ad hoc reimplementation of send, so one really wonders what you are trying to achieve with that.
There's two things here.
1) Your example won't work, as you're trying to call Test.print with an argument while your method definition doesn't accept one.
EDIT: Just saw your update. It's now ok. Sorry!
2) It's evil, but you could always use eval like this :
module Test
def self.print(*args)
p 'something'
p args
end
end
def method_caller(method_name, *args)
if method_name.is_a?(String)
chain = method_name.split('.')
eval(chain[0...-1].join('.')).send(chain.last, args)
else
send(method_name, args)
end
end
method_caller(:print, 2) # this works fine
method_caller("print", 2, 3) # this one also
method_caller("Test.print", 2) # this doesn't work
Is the passing of the method to call as a string a requirement or is it just an idea you had ? A more ruby-ish solution would be to simply pass a block ...
method_caller(2) { |*args| Object.print(*args) }
Or to give the method object as argument
method_caller(Object.method(:print), 2)
Which, by the way, works for any object that responds to #call (labmdas, ...)
Related
I want to know, what method calls another method (I'm just trying to create simple expect("string").to eq("string") model (just like in RSpect, but more easier).
But i get "main", what is that? (I see that "main" for first time)
public
def expect(message)
message.to_s
end
def to
caller_method = caller_locations.first.label
puts caller_method
end
expect("test").to #=> <main>
#what output i expected:
expect("test").to #=> expect
My goal:
#first i need to do something like that:
expect("test").to eq("test") #=> true
#final must look like this:
expect(expect("test").to eq("test")).to eq(true) #=> true
I would recommend against using caller_method in this case. Rather, make a class whose methods return self - that way they will be chainable:
module Expectation
attr_accessor :caller_method
def expect(arg)
self.caller_method = "expect"
self
end
def to
caller_method
end
end
include Expectation
expect("foo").to
# => "expect"
Obviously this is only a starting point, and this doesn't actually do any comparisons / validations yet. But hopefully you can understand this pattern. The key thing is returning self to make a chainable API, and storing internal state using something like attr_accessor
In the following code:
def main
someArray.all? { |item| checkSomething(item) }
end
private
def checkSomething(arg)
...
end
How do I shorten the all? statement in order to ged rid of the redundant item variable?
I'm looking for something like someArray.all?(checkSomething) which gives a "wrong number of arguments" error.
You could have a slightly shorter code if checkSomething was a method on your object class. Don't know what it is, so, I'm guessing, you're working with primitives (numbers, strings, etc.). So something like this should work:
class Object
def check_something
# check self
end
end
some_array.all?(&:check_something)
But this is, of course, a horrible, horrible way of going about it. Saving a few keystrokes at the cost of such global pollution - absolutely not worth it. Moreover, even this trick will not be available as soon as you will need to pass additional parameters to the check method.
Besides, the original code is quite readable too.
You could use Object#method and Method#to_proc (i.e. &method) to get rid of the item variable, although it is slower:
def main(array)
array.all?(&method(:check_something))
end
def check_something(arg)
arg.odd?
end
main [1,3,5] #=> true
main [1,3,6] #=> false
If checkSomething is an item method (i.e. defined in the class of the 'i' object) you could do symbol to proc...
def main
someArray.all?(&:checkSomething)
end
A method only has access to passed arguments, or to selfso to bypass passing arguments you need to make the method an instance method of the object class (so it can use self)
The way you have it... where checkSomething is external to the i class... you can't do that.
Considering you want to keep your object's checkSomething private, I think this would be a good work around :
class Something
def main
someArray.all?(&checkSomething)
end
private
def checkSomething
->(item) do
# Checking part.
end
end
end
For block that executes a method with arguments, Checkout this way...
def main
someArray.all? &checkSomething(arg1, arg2, ...)
end
private
def checkSomething(arg1, arg2, ...)
Proc.new { |item| ..... }
end
could you not use a Ruby's collection method 'any?' instead?
def main
#students is an array of students
students.any?(&:passed)
end
class Student
def passed
#code to check if student passed
end
end
Ref http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.2/Enumerable.html#method-i-any-3F
I am trying to make a simplistic implementation of AOP in ruby. I was able to implement before and after advices, I got stuck with around advice.
This is the target class that is going to be advised:
class MyClass
def method
puts "running method"
end
end
This is the Aspect class to instantiate objects capable of making advices:
class Aspect
def advise(class_name, method, type, &block)
class_name.send(:alias_method, :proceed, :method)
class_name.send(:define_method, :method) do
case type
when :before
yield
proceed
when :after
proceed
yield
when :around
yield(proceed) # * proceed is the old version of the method
end
end
end
end
(*) Yield should execute the block around MyClass#proceed on the current object when method is invoked.
Creating the target and the aspect:
mc = MyClass.new
a = Aspect.new()
Invoking the method without advising it:
puts mc.method
Advising MyClass#method with around:
a.advise(MyClass, :method, :around) do |proceed|
puts "First"
proceed # this is not working *
puts "Last"
end
puts mc.method
(*) I am not being able to pass something to identify the call of proceed, that is the invocation of the old method without the advice.
The output should be:
First
running method
Last
In Ruby, a method call looks like this:
receiver.method(arguments)
Or, you can leave off the receiver if the receiver is self.
So, to call a method named proceed on some receiver, you would write
receiver.proceed
However, in your implementation, you don't keep track of what the receiver should be, so since you don't know the receiver, you simply cannot call the method.
Note that there are lots of other problems with your approach as well. For example, if you advise multiple methods, you will alias them all to the same method, overwriting each other.
I believe there are two things going wrong here.
This section of code
when :around
yield(proceed) # * proceed is the old version of the method
end
Calls the block given to advise providing the output of the proceed method as an argument.
So your output probably looks something like:
running method
First
Last
This block
a.advise(MyClass, :method, :around) do |proceed|
puts "First"
proceed # this is not working *
puts "Last"
end
Just evaluates the argument given as proceed. If a method is given it does not call it. So taking problem 1 into consideration in your case the original definition of method (aliased to proceed) returns nil (output of return) which will be passed as the value to the proceed argument in the block when yielded. the block ends up evaluating to something like
puts "First"
nil
puts "Last"
mc.method is called.
To address the second part, you may want to consider using send. Because the inner workings of your aspect may not be known to your code that calls it. It may change over time, so what ever calls Aspect.advise shouldn't make assumptions that the original method will still be accessible. Instead, it should take an argument (the new method name) and send it to the object. Making the block passed to advise:
a.advise(MyClass, :method, :around) do |aliased_method_name|
puts "First"
send(aliased_method_name)
puts "Last"
end
And adjusting the around item added to your class when advise is called to the following:
when :around
yield(:proceed) # * proceed is the old version of the method
end
If you do both of these things, your around section will calls the provided block, using the symbol for the new alias for the overridden method.
N.B.: This approach won't work for methods that require any arguments.
This is what I did. In the definition of Aspect#advise now I use a Proc, like this:
when :around
yield Proc.new { proceed }
end
And when calling the method to advise MyClass#method with :around parameter I use this:
a.advise(MyClass, :method, :around) do |original|
puts "First"
original.call
puts "Last"
end
I got:
First
running method
Last
Here's the fixed version that will work for arguments, and avoid clobbering.
class Aspect
##count = 0
def self.advise(class_name, method, type=nil, &block)
old_method = :"__aspect_#{method}_#{##count += 1}"
class_name.send(:alias_method, old_method, method)
class_name.send(:define_method, method) do |*args, &callblock|
case type
when :before
yield
send(old_method, *args, &callblock)
when :after
send(old_method, *args, &callblock)
yield
when :around, nil
yield lambda {
send(old_method, *args, &callblock)
}
end
end
end
end
class Foo
def foo(what)
puts "Hello, #{what}!"
end
end
Aspect.advise(Foo, :foo) do |y|
puts "before around"
y.yield
puts "after around"
end
Aspect.advise(Foo, :foo, :before) do
puts "before"
end
Aspect.advise(Foo, :foo, :after) do
puts "after"
end
Foo.new.foo("world")
# before
# before around
# Hello, world!
# after around
# after
I have a couple of modules that extend method missing:
module SaysHello
def respond_to?(method)
super.respond_to?(method) || !!(method.to_s =~ /^hello/)
end
def method_missing(method, *args, &block)
if (method.to_s =~ /^hello/)
puts "Hello, #{method}"
else
super.method_missing(method, *args, &block)
end
end
end
module SaysGoodbye
def respond_to?(method)
super.respond_to?(method) || !!(method.to_s =~ /^goodbye/)
end
def method_missing(method, *args, &block)
if (method.to_s =~ /^goodbye/)
puts "Goodbye, #{method}"
else
super.method_missing(method, *args, &block)
end
end
end
class ObjectA
include SaysHello
end
class ObjectB
include SaysGoodbye
end
This all works well, eg ObjectA.new.hello_there outputs "Hello, hello_there". Likewise, ObjectB.new.goodbye_xxx outputs "Goodbye, xxx". respond_to? also works, eg ObjectA.new.respond_to? :hello_there return true.
However, this doesn't work very well when you want to use both SaysHello and SaysGoodbye:
class ObjectC
include SaysHello
include SaysGoodbye
end
While ObjectC.new.goodbye_aaa works correctly, ObjectC.new.hello_a acts strange:
> ObjectC.new.hello_aaa
Hello, hello_aaa
NoMethodError: private method `method_missing' called for nil:NilClass
from test.rb:22:in `method_missing' (line 22 was the super.method_missing line in the SaysGoodbye module)
It outputs correctly, then throws an error. Also respond_to? doesn't correctly, ObjectC.new.respond_to? :hello_a returns false.
Finally, adding this class:
class ObjectD
include SaysHello
include SaysGoodbye
def respond_to?(method)
super.respond_to?(method) || !!(method.to_s =~ /^lol/)
end
def method_missing(method, *args, &block)
if (method.to_s =~ /^lol/)
puts "Haha, #{method}"
else
super.method_missing(method, *args, &block)
end
end
end
Also acts strangely. ObjectD.new.lol_zzz works, however ObjectD.new.hello_aand ObjectD.new.goodbye_t both throw a name exception after outputting the correct string. respond_to? also fails for hello and goodbye methods.
Is there a way to get this all working correctly? An explanation of how method_missing, Modules and super are interacting would also be really useful.
EDIT: coreyward solved the problem, if I use super instead of super.<method-name>(args...) in all the methods I define, the program works correctly. I don't understand why this is though, so I asked another question about this at What does super.<method-name> do in ruby?
When you redefine a method, you redefine a method; period.
What you're doing when you include the second module with the method_missing method define is overriding the previously defined method_missing. You can keep it around by aliasing it before you redefine it, but you might want to watch out with that.
Also, I don't know why you're calling super.method_missing. Once your method_missing definition is out of tricks you should let Ruby know it can continue on up the chain looking for a way to handle the call, all just by calling super (no need to pass arguments or specify a method name).
About Super (update)
When you call super Ruby continues on up the inheritance chain looking for the next definition of the method invoked, and if it finds one it calls it and returns the response. When you call super.method_missing you call the method_missing method on the response to super().
Take this (somewhat silly) example:
class Sauce
def flavor
"Teriyaki"
end
end
# yes, noodles inherit from sauce:
# warmth, texture, flavor, and more! ;)
class Noodle < Sauce
def flavor
sauce_flavor = super
"Noodles with #{sauce_flavor} sauce"
end
end
dinner = Noodle.new
puts dinner.flavor #=> "Noodles with Teriyaki sauce"
You can see that super is a method just like any other, it just does some magic behind the scenes. If you call super.class here you're going to see String, since "Teriyaki" is a string.
Make sense now?
http://www.perfectline.ee/blog/activerecord-method-missing-with-multiple-inheritance
This article explains exactly how it works: Each new module doesn't overwrite or replace methods - instead, its methods are inserted into the inheritance chain. That's why calling super from each method_missing eventually calls all the method_missing's.
The class remains lowest in the inheritance chain, and the last-added module is adjacent to the class.
So:
class Foo
include A
include B
end
results in Kernel -> A -> B -> Foo
Using Ruby I know you can get pretty creative with how you name your methods. For instance in rails you have .find_by_this_and_that.
How can I do this?
Example:
def get_persons_with_5_things
res = []
persons.each do |person|
if person.number_of_things == %MAGICALLY GET THE NUMBER 5 FROM FUNCTION NAME%
res << person
end
end
return res
end
I'm not even sure how you call this kind of things so any pointers would be appreciated.
I'm a little confused by your example. If you define the method with the hardcoded 5 in the method name, then you don't need to magically figure it out inside the body of the method. If you want to do something dynamic with method missing, it would be something like this:
def method_missing(name, *args)
if name.to_s =~ /get_persons_with_(\d+)_things/
number_of_things = $1.to_i
res = []
persons.each do |person|
if person.number_of_things == number_of_things
res << person
end
end
return res
else
return super(name, *args)
end
end
[EDIT (Jörg W Mittag)]: This is a more Rubyish way of implementing that same method:
def method_missing(name, *args)
return super unless name.to_s =~ /get_persons_with_(\d+)_things/
number_of_things = $1.to_i
return persons.select {|person| person.number_of_things == number_of_things }
end
super without any arguments just passes the original arguments along, no need to pass them explicitly
an early return guarded by a trailing if or unless expression greatly clears up control flow
all the each iterator does, is select items according to a predicate; however, there already is an iterator for selecting items: select
Ruby has different meta programming techniches to do this kind of stuff.
First we need our variable method
class DB
def get_persons_with_x_things(x)
res = []
persons.each do |person|
if person.number_of_things == x
res << person
end
end
return res
end
end
define_method
If there is a finite number of x's. We could use define_method to create all this methods. define_method creates a method. The first argument is the name of the method, the seccond argument or the given block is the stuff, which get's executed when the method is called.
This way, you don't realy create such method's, but It will look for the user if he calls it, as if it existed. But if the user relies on Object#methods and such, he will never see your inifinite number of fake methods.
class DB
99.times do |i|
define_method("get_persons_with_#{i}_things") do
get_persons_with_x_things(i)
end
end
end
method_missing
If there is an infinite numbor of x's method_missing would be better suited for this Task. If someone tries to call a method which does not exist, method_missing is executed instead. The first argument for method_missing is the method name as symbol, the following arguments are the original arguments.
class DB
def method_missing(name, *args)
case name.to_s
when /^get_persons_with_(\d+)_things$/
get_persons_with_x_things($1.to_i)
else
super(name, *args)
end
end
end
method_missing and send
To not use static regexe would be even cooler. But this could have some security implications. The method send I use here, calls a method by it's name.
class DB
def method_missing(name, *args)
name.to_s=~ /\d+/
# always be carefull with $ variables, they are global for this thread, so save everything as fast as you can
new_name= "#{$`}x#{$'}"
number= $1.to_i
if method_defined?(new_name)
send(new_name, number)
else
super(name, *args)
end
end
end
you can do a lot of things like this with method missing:
Ruby Docs
StackOveflow method_missing
Have a look at Ruby's callbacks specially method_missing.