Why can 'self.method' not use a method in the same class? - ruby-on-rails

Question

Why when I do self.method from a class, I get an undefined method `my_method' for MyModule::MyOtherModule::MyClass:Class
module MyModule
module OtherModule
class MyClass < Base
def my_method
end
def self.my_self_method
my_method
end
end
end
end
I call my_self_method with send from an herited [sic] class:
class Base
class << self
my_method(method_name)
send("my_self_#{method_name}")
end
end
end
I don't understand it.

Answer 1

In your code, you're defining one instance method (my_method), and one class method (my_self_method).
This means you can call:
MyClass.my_self_method
or
MyClass.new.my_method
If you want my_method to be callable from my_self_method, you could define it as:
def self.my_method
...
end
Then the following would be available:
def self.my_self_method
my_method
end
Here's another alternative. There's a comment that suggests it's bad practice to call new.my_method from within a class method, but I've seen a pattern that applies this that I find quite idiomatic, for example:
class MyClass
def self.run(the_variables)
new(the_variables).process
end
def initialize(the_variables)
# setup the_variables
end
def process
# do whatever's needed
end
end
This allows a simple entry point of MyClass.run(the_variables). If your use case seems suitable, a similar pattern for you would be:
module MyModule
module OtherModule
class MyClass < Base
def my_method
end
def self.my_self_method
new.my_method
end
end
end
end
I'm sure there's scope to disagree with this pattern, and would be interested to hear others' opinions in the comments.
Hope this helps clear a few things up #N.Safi.