I'm trying to make a Ruby on Rails engine, and I want the initializer to be able to have access to the helpers and models.
I'll write below an example, part of the code, and the error that I have. It may not be the recommended way, because I can see that in some cases I'm repeating myself, but it's the first engine I make.
file lib/my_engine/engine.rb
module MyEngine
require 'my_engine/functions'
class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
isolate_namespace MyEngine
config.autoload_paths += %W( #{config.root}/lib )
end
class GlobalVars
attr_accessor :foo
def initialize
#foo = MyEngine::Functions.new
end
end
class << self
mattr_accessor :GLOBAL
mattr_accessor :USER_CONFIG
self.GLOBAL = MyEngine::GlobalVars.new
# add default values of more config vars here
self.USER_CONFIG = 'default config'
end
def self.setup(&block)
yield self
end
end
file lib/my_engine/functions.rb
module MyEngine
require '../../app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper'
class Functions
include MyEngine::OptionsHelper
attr_accessor :some_link
def initialize
#some_link = get_option('dummy')
end
end
end
There is also a controller named OptionsController in app/controllers/my_engine, and OptionsHelper in app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper.rb:
module MyEngine
module OptionsHelper
def get_option(name)
MyEngine::Option.new
end
end
end
When I try to run the dummy application, this error occurs:
/app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper.rb:4:in `get_option': uninitialized constant MyEngine::Option (NameError)
If I change to just Option.new, I have this error:
/app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper.rb:4:in `get_option': uninitialized constant MyEngine::OptionsHelper::Option (NameError)
For ::MyEngine::Option.new, I have:
/app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper.rb:4:in `get_option': uninitialized constant MyEngine::Option (NameError)
For ::Option.new, I have:
/app/helpers/my_engine/options_helper.rb:4:in `get_option': uninitialized constant Option (NameError)
The dummy application has nothing in it. All helpers and models defined above are in the engine.
Before this, I had other errors because it couldn't access the helper, or the Functions class. I had to add require and include to make it work even if they are placed in the same directory. Also, to work, I had to move GlobalVars from its own file inside engine.rb.
Can somebody show me what I'm doing wrong?
After I used required for every class, I ended with ActiveRecord::ConnectionNotEstablished, and it seems that not everything is loaded and available at that point when the GLOBAL object is created.
So I moved the code that was using the models in a separate init method. Then, I added an after initialize event:
config.after_initialize do
MyEngine.GLOBAL.init
end
I see a possible problem: because you are inside module MyEngine it might be possible that actually rails is looking for MyEngine::MyEngine::Option, so I see two approaches:
just write Option: this will look for MyEngine::Option
write ::MyEngine::Option this will look in the global namespace and find MyEngine::Option
Secondly, if that does not help, even though your path seems correct, but you can always explicitly require "my_engine/option" at the top of the file. I am not entirely sure the autoloading in an engine works in quite the same way, and I tend to, in my engine file, require almost everything (to make sure it works).
In my engine.rb I do
require_relative '../../app/models/my_engine/option'
maybe this will help, but it is not a nice solution.
Related
In Rails, how do you use a specific method from a module. For eg,
# ./app/controllers/my_controller.rb
class MyController < ApplicationController
include MyModule
def action
MyModule.a_method
end
private
def a_method
...
end
end
# ------------------------------------------------ #
# ./app/helpers/my_module.rb
module MyModule
def a_method
...
end
end
MyController includes MyModule. And in action ,I want to use MyModule.a_method (Please note I also have a private a_method in MyController and I don't want to use this.)
Things I've tried :
1) Defining the method in the module as self.
def self.a_method
end
2) Using the :: notation in controller (MyModule::a_method)
The error that I keep getting is
Undefined method:a_method for MyModule:module
For now, I've resorted to using a different name for the modules method. But I'd like to know how to namespace the function with either the Module:: or Module. notation
[UPDATE - 11/24/2014]
adding file structure in code, since Rails heavily relies on convention.
So I am not really sure what you are trying to accomplish with your module but a quick solution to get it working is below.
Move my_module.rb out of helpers and into lib/my_module.rb. The helpers directory is for methods that you use in your views. The convention is to utilize helpers that are namespaced after their respective controller or the application_helper.rb for global methods for your views. Not sure if that's what you are trying to accomplish with your module but wanted to throw that out there.
Create an initializer (you can all it whatever) in config/initializers/custom_modules.rb and add require 'my_module'
Update the a_method back to be self.a_method
You can now call MyModule.a_method in your app
Don't forget to restart your server for changes to lib/my_module.rb to take effect.
Also, a lot of people reference this post by Yehuda Katz as guidance on where to store code for your app. Thought it might be a helpful reference.
if you include MyModule into MyController, all the "instance methods" of the first will be mixed-in into the 2nd.
So if you only want to call MyModule.a_method, no need to include your module.
Then you'd want to require (or better autoload) your module before using it. To do so place it in controllers/concerns/my_module.rb, rails (4 at least) should autoload it, otherwise require its file in an intializer
# my_module.rb
module MyModule
def self.a_method
...
end
end
should work, but doing
# my_module.rb
module MyModule
extend self
def a_method
...
end
end
is more clean to me. You'd like to have a look to rails active support concern to understand the "rails way" on this topic.
I'm writing a series of Rails generators that will share several of the same methods. I would like to abstract these methods into a module or class of their own to be reused (but not automatically fired) within each of my generators.
My latest attempt was to autoload a helper file and later include it:
lib/my_gem/engine.rb
module MyGem
class Engine < Rails::Engine
config.autoload_paths += Dir["#{config.root}/lib/helpers/**"]
end
end
lib/helpers/generators_helper.rb
module MyGem
module GeneratorsHelper
def some_method
# ...
end
end
end
lib/generators/my_gem/my_generator.rb
# ...
include MyGem::GeneratorsHelper
# ...
But I'll see something like Error: uninitialized constant MyGem::GeneratorsHelper.
I was able to accomplish this by manually requiring the file and then including the module. It's a little ugly, but keeps me from duplicating helper methods:
lib/my_gem/generators/my_generator.rb
require "#{Gem::Specification.find_by_name("my_gem").gem_dir}/lib/helpers/generators_helper.rb"
include MyGem::GeneratorsHelper
I have the following in my controller:
class SurveysController < ApplicationController
def index
survey_provider = FluidSurveysProviders::SurveyProvider.new
contact_lists = survey_provider.get_lists()
#survey = Survey.new(contact_lists)
end
And I'm receiving this error:
NameError in SurveysController#index
uninitialized constant SurveysController::FluidSurveysProviders
Excuse my Rails noobiness, I'm sure I'm leaving out something important here. But it seems to me that I am trying to "initialize" the constant with this line:
survey_provider = FluidSurveysProviders::SurveyProvider.new
But that's the same line that's throwing an error because it's not initialized. Where should I be "initializing" the Provider?
Once you require fluid_surveys_providers (or similar) then do this:
include FluidSurveysProviders
Make sure SurveyProvider is wrapped with module FluidSurveysProviders. It may look like this
module FluidSurveysProviders
class SurveyProvider
...
end
end
if its an ActiveRecord object try this
class FluidSurveysProviders::SurveyProvider < ActiveRecord::Base
...
end
The SurveyProvider was not loaded correctly.
For a quick fix, move the class file into app directory, e.g. app/lib/survey_provider.rb. Then all code inside app will be auto-loaded by Rails.
Or make sure the path to class SurveyProvider is included in the autoload_path of Rails. In config/application.rb
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib) # where lib is directory to survery_provider
If you use Rails 5, be careful that autoload is disabled in production environment. Check this link for more info.
I have several different acts_as_... custom class methods I'd like to use in my app. I would like the code for those methods to be in files in the app/modules directory.
I have been unable to get this working.
For instance, I have a file: app/modules/acts_as_lockable
module ActsAsLockable
def acts_as_lockable
before_create :set_lock
include InstanceMethods
end
module InstanceMethods
protected
def set_lock
now = Time.now.to_s
self.lock = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(now)
end
end
end
ActiveRecord::Base.extend ActsAsLockable
And in application.rb
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/app/modules)
When I try to load up a model that calls acts_as_lockable I get the following error:
NameError: undefined local variable or
method `acts_as_lockable'
My guess is that I shouldn't be autoloading the modules folder because ActiveRecord has already been loaded when I extend it? Is there another way to do this? I would like to be able to alter the file during development without restarting my server but that's more of a want that a need.
I think you're thinking about this in the wrong way.
You are adding this module to the load path,
but it will only load if you either say;
require 'acts_as_lockable'
or
ActsAsLockable
I'd suggest you never really want to say either of these inside your code.
The correct paradigm you're looking for is an "initializer".
I suggest you create a file called "config/initializers/acts_as_lockable.rb"
In this file you can either include the whole code,
or just include a require 'acts_as_lockable'
Normally I keep things like this inside the libs directory
ensure lib is in the load path
** config/application.rb **
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib)
** lib/acts_as_lockable.rb **
module ActsAsLockable
def acts_as_lockable
before_create :set_lock
include InstanceMethods
end
module InstanceMethods
protected
def set_lock
now = Time.now.to_s
self.lock = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(now)
end
end
end
then in the initializer
** config/initializers/acts_as_lockable.rb **
require 'acts_as_lockable'
ActiveRecord::Base.extend ActsAsLockable
The problem is that ruby autoload mechanism is a lazy process: When a constant like ActsAsLockable is used within your code, it looks for a file called acts_as_lockable.rb within the autoload_paths. As You never actually use ActsAsLockable, the file never gets loaded. You could do (although not tremendously beautiful):
ActsAsLockable
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
acts_as_lockable
...
end
I think the acts_as_* pattern is ment to be used be plugins and gems to easily integrate functionality into your code. Plugins and gems are supposed to be in a final state when you integrate them into your project so you would not need the reloading functionality for the development mode.
I hope this helps.
I am writing a custom wrapper for open_flash_chart plugin. It's placed in /lib and load it as a module in ApplicationController.
However, I have either a problem with the Class hierarchy or some other problem.
From any controller I can access open_flash_chart functions as OpenFlashChart, Line etc.
However, in a class in a /lib module, it doesnt work!
Any ideas?
There are two ways that files get loaded in Rails:
It is registered in the autoload process, and you reference a constant that corresponds to the file name. For instance, if you have app/controllers/pages_controller.rb and reference PagesController, app/controllers/pages_controller.rb will automatically be loaded. This happens for a preset list of directories in the load path. This is a feature of Rails, and is not part of the normal Ruby load process.
Files are explicitly required. If a file is required, Ruby looks through the entire list of paths in your load paths, and find the first case where the file you required is in the load path. You can see the entire load path by inspecting $LOAD_PATH (an alias for $:).
Since lib is in your load path, you have two options: either name your files with the same names as the constants, so Rails will automatically pick them up when you reference the constant in question, or explicitly require the module.
I also notice that you might be confused about another thing. ApplicationController is not the root object in the system. Observe:
module MyModule
def im_awesome
puts "#{self} is so awesome"
end
end
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
include MyModule
end
class AnotherClass
end
AnotherClass.new.im_awesome
# NoMethodError: undefined method `im_awesome' for #<AnotherClass:0x101208ad0>
You will need to include the module into whatever class you want to use it in.
class AnotherClass
include MyModule
end
AnotherClass.new.im_awesome
# AnotherClass is so awesome
Of course, in order to be able to include the module in the first place, you'll need to have it available (using either of the techniques above).
In Rails 3 /lib modules are not loaded automatically.
This is because the line:
# config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/extras)
inside config/application.rb is commented.
You can try to uncomment this line or, (it worked even better for me), leave this commented (for future reference) and add this two lines:
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib)
config.autoload_paths += Dir["#{config.root}/lib/**/"]
What worked for me, besides uncommenting config.autoload_paths (I’m on Rails 3.1.3), was to create a initializer like this:
#config/initializers/myapp_init.rb
require 'my_module'
include MyModule
This way I can call mymodule methods from anywhere and as class methods Model.mymodule_method or as instance methods mymodel.mymodule_method
Maybe some expert may explain the implications of this. By now, use it at your own risk.
Edit: Afterwards, I think a better approuch would be:
create a initializer like this:
#config/initializers/myapp_init.rb
require ‘my_module’
Include the module where needed, like this:
1) if you want to use it as "Class Methods" use "extend":
class Myclass < ActiveRecord::Base
extend MyModule
def self.method1
Myclass.my_module_method
end
end
2) if you want to use it as "Instance Methods" include it inside Class definition:
class Myclass < ActiveRecord::Base
include MyModule
def method1
self.my_module_method
end
end
3) remember that include MyModule refers to a file my_module.rb in your load path that must be required first
To use the module lib/my_module.rb in your models and controllers:
In config/application.rb:
config.watchable_dirs['lib'] = [:rb]
In your model (similar idea for your controller):
require_dependency 'my_module'
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
include MyModule
MyModule.some_method
end
This method is described in more detail at http://hakunin.com/rails3-load-paths
It might be the case that you want to explicitly load file(s) under lib directory at time of application initialization. In my config/application.rb, I have an entry as, config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib) Also this might be the case that module name/hierarchy is not same as it is in file or location/name of file is not same as that hierarchy, so auto-load of that file is also not possible. So when I added an entry at bottom of config/application.rb as, require "./lib/file_name_without_extention it worked fine.