Calling a method inside model - ruby-on-rails

I am trying to trigger a method from inside the model where it is defined. But I am getting an "undefined method `completed_mission_names'" when I try to start my server. Can anybody help me find what I'm doing wrong ?
class MenteeProfile < ActiveRecord::Base
# Update trackable attributes with succeeded missions
MenteeProfile.completed_mission_names
protected
def last_completed_mission_action
end
def self.completed_mission_names
end
end

Simplified to the max, you are trying to do this:
class A
A.foo
def self.foo
puts 'Calling foo!'
end
end
This does not work because the method foo is not defined when you try to invoke it. You must define it first, then you can call it. Like so:
class B
def self.foo
puts 'Calling foo!'
end
B.foo
end
You could also call just foo instead of B.foo from within the class definition. You can add the protected keyword anywhere you like, it will not have any impact on class methods whatsoever.

Related

How to improve lisibility/split "fat" class method (inside ruby class/rails model)

as a new Rubyist, I'm running into a recurring problem when it comes to structure my models.
When a method is too long:
I try to refactor to a better/shorter syntax
I try to split some parts into "sub methods"
PROBLEM: I don't know how to split the method properly + whith which tool (private method, modules etc.)
For example:
I need to run Foo.main_class_method
My model looks like this:
class Foo < Applicationrecord
def self.main_class_method
[...] # way too long method with nasty iterations
end
end
I try to split my method to improve lisibility. It becomes :
class Foo < Applicationrecord
def self.main_class_method
[...] # fewer code
self.first_splitted_class_method
self.second_splitted_class_method
end
private
def self.first_splitted_class_method
[...] # some code
end
def self.second_splitted_class_method
[...] # some code
end
end
Result: It works, but I fell like this is not the proper way to do it + I have side effects
expected: splitted_methods are not accessible, except inside main_class_method
got: I can call Foo.first_splitted_class_method since class methods "ignore" Private. splitted_class_methods under Private are not private
Question: Is it an acceptable way to split main_class_method or is it a complete misuse of private method ?
Using private method to split your code:
Possible but not the real solution if the code belongs somewhere else
It's rather about "does it belongs here?" than "does it look nicer?"
To fix the "not private" private class method (original post) :
use private_class_method :your_method_name after you defined it
or right before
private_class_method def your_method_name
[...] # your code
end
If your splitting a class/instance method:
the splitted_method must be the same type(class/instance) as the main_class_method calling it
In the main_method you can call the splitted_method with or without using self.method syntax
class Foo < Applicationrecord
def self.main_class_method
# Here, self == Foo class
# first_splitted_class == class method, I can call self.first_splitted_class_method
self.first_splitted_class_method
# I can also call directly without self because self is implicit
second_splitted_class_method
end
def self.first_splitted_class_method
end
def self.second_splitted_class_method
end
private_class_method :first_splitted_class_method, :second_splitted_class_method
end

Ruby include/extend Module: a class method - Beginner

I've been reading this article on the difference between include & extend in ruby.
If I have this module, I understand how the first and second methods of the module will be used in the class. What I don't understand is how the class << self will be used by include or extend.
module Direction
def straight
puts "going straight!"
end
def turn
puts "turning!"
end
class << self
def stop
puts "stopping!"
end
end
end
# This will work because `include` brings them in as instance methods
class Car
include Direction
end
Car.new.straight
Car.new.turn
# ---------------------
# Now this will also work because `extend` brings them in as class methods
class Car
extend Direction
end
Car.straight
Car.turn
# ---------------------
Now, the issue is, doing Car.stop or Car.new.stop will always result in an error:
/Users/<name>/Projects/ruby-testing/main.rb:34:in `<main>': undefined method `stop' for Car:Class (NoMethodError)
Why are class methods not carried over via include and extend?
I started thinking about this because of my research into the [forwardable source code at line 119].(https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/master/lib/forwardable.rb#L119)
Thank you for any help you may have!
Update from Answer Below
The following was an example given:
module Direction
def self.included(base)
base.extend(ClassMethods)
end
module ClassMethods
def stop
puts 'stopping!'
end
end
def straight
puts "going straight!"
end
def turn
puts "turning!"
end
end
class Car
include Direction
end
This I understand now, and I understand how I can implement class methods from a module into a class using def self.included(base). My question is, if we used extend inside of Car instead of include, would we still be able to get at those class methods using def self.included(base)?
When you define a method with class << self you are defining a class method. It's the same as defining the methed like this:
class Foo
def self.foo
puts 'foo'
end
# the above definition is the same as doing:
class << self
def foo
puts 'foo'
end
end
end
The above shows 2 ways of defining class methods which are called directly on the class and not on instances of the class. You might use the 2nd syntax if you want to define only class methods or several of them inside of the class << self block. But either style has the same result.
Since you've defined a class method on the Direction module, include or extend will not inherit the class method of that module. This is the expected behavior.
If you want to use inheritance with class methods from a module, you should do it like this which is explained further down in the article you've linked
module Direction
def self.included(base)
base.extend(ClassMethods)
end
module ClassMethods
def stop
puts 'stopping!'
end
end
def straight
puts "going straight!"
end
def turn
puts "turning!"
end
end
class Car
include Direction
end
Now calling class methods on Car will inherit as defined in the Direction class.
Car.stop
stopping!
=>nil # calling a method will return nil unless the method returns a value.
However always be careful using inheritance of any kind as Ruby is a dynamic language. So if you do the above code and then later redefine this method:
module Direction
module ClassMethods
def stop
puts 'go!'
end
end
end
Guess what will happen if you do this:
Car.stop
Since the method was defined inside Direction module, when the method gets called on Car it will be calling the method from the Direction module.
Car.stop
go!
=>nil
Updated based on comments:
If you prefer to use extend vs include you would need to do this instead:
module Direction
def self.extended(base)
base.extend(ClassMethods)
end
module ClassMethods
def stop
puts 'stopping!'
end
end
end
class Car
extend Direction
end
In this example, all the methods which were inherited from the module are "copied" to the class extending them. This avoids the problem of possible result of redefining the module method which I warned about when using include previously in my answer.
But you may want to look at answers to this question for ideas about when and why to use either case.

No method error for class variable defined with attr_accessor

I want to define methods dynamically using an array of strings.
Here is a simple piece of code that should achieve that.
class SomeClass
attr_accessor :my_array
def initialize(user, record)
#my_array=[]
end
my_array.each do |element|
alias_method "#{element}?".to_sym, :awesome_method
end
def awesome_method
puts 'awesome'
end
end
When I instantiate this class in the console, I get the following error
NoMethodError (undefined method `each' for nil:NilClass)
What is wrong with this code and how to make it work. any help highly appreciated :)
Edit 1:
What I ultimately want to achieve is to inherit from SomeClass and override my_array in the child class to dynamically define methods with its attributes like so
class OtherClass < SomeClass
my_array = %w[method1 method2 method3]
# Some mechanism to over write my_array.
end
And then use self.inherited to dynamically define methods in child class.
Is there a good way to achieve this?
In your code, you use an instance variable (#my_array) and an attr_accessor over it, and then try to access my_array from class level (that is, from the body of the class definition, outside of any methods). But instance variables only exist at instance level, so it is not available in the class scope.
One solution (the natural one, and the one which you would probably use in other languages) is to use a class variable: ##my_array. But class variables in ruby are a little problematic, so the best solution would be to make use of class instance variables, like that:
class SomeClass
class << self
attr_accessor :my_array
end
#my_array=[]
def initialize(user, record)
end
#my_array.each do |element|
alias_method "#{element}?".to_sym, :awesome_method
end
def awesome_method
puts 'awesome'
end
end
The syntax is a little tricky, so, if you look that up and it still doesn't makes sense, try just reading about scopes and using a regular class variable with ##.
Edit:
Ok, so, after your edit, it became more clear what you are trying to accomplish. A full working example is like follows:
class SomeClass
class << self
attr_accessor :my_array
end
#my_array=[]
def awesome_method
puts 'awesome'
end
def self.build!
#my_array.each do |element|
self.define_method("#{element}?".to_sym){ awesome_method }
end
end
end
class ChildClass < SomeClass
#my_array = %w[test little_test]
self.build!
end
child_instance = ChildClass.new
child_instance.test?
>> awesome
child_instance.little_test?
>> awesome
So, I've made some tweaks on SomeClass:
It does not need an initialize method
I tried to use the inherited hook for this problem. It won't ever work, because this hook is called as soon as "ChildClass < SomeClass" is written, and this must be before you can define something like #my_array = %w[test little_test]. So, I have added a self.build! method that must be called in the child instances so that they build their methods from my_array. This is inevitable, but I think it is also good, because it makes more explicit in the subclasses that you are doing something interesting there.
I think you want "define_method", not "alias_method".
awesome_method in passed in a block, which is ruby's way of doing functional programming.
With that done, ChildClass inherits from SomeClass, and it's instances have the dynamically created methods 'test?' and 'little_test?'.
You need to change my_array to class level accessible, in my case class constant.
class SomeClass
DYNAMIC_METHOD_NAMES = %w(method_a method_b method_C).freeze
def initialize(user, record)
end
DYNAMIC_METHOD_NAMES.each do |element|
alias_method "#{element}?".to_sym, :awesome_method
end
def awesome_method
puts 'awesome'
end
end

Pass a symbol to a method and call the corresponding method

In a Rails controller you can pass a symbol to the layout method that corresponds to a method in you controller that will return the layout name like this:
layout :my_method
def my_method
'layout_1'
end
I want to have a similar functionality to likewise pass a symbol to my classes method and that class should call the corresponding function and use its return value, like this
myClass.foo :my_method
def my_method
'layout_1'
end
I've read posts[1] that tell me I need to pass
myClass.foo(method(:my_method))
which I find ugly and inconvenient. How is rails here different allowing to pass just the symbol without any wrapper? Can this be achieved like Rails does it?
[1] How to implement a "callback" in Ruby?
If you want to only pass a :symbol into the method, then you have to make assumptions about which method named :symbol is the one you want called for you. Probably it's either defined in the class of the caller, or some outer scope. Using the binding_of_caller gem, we can snag that information easily and evaluate the code in that context.
This surely has security implications, but those issues are up to you! :)
require 'binding_of_caller'
class Test
def foo(sym)
binding.of_caller(1).eval("method(:#{sym})").call
end
end
class Other
def blork
t = Test.new
p t.foo(:bar)
p t.foo(:quxx)
end
def bar
'baz'
end
end
def quxx
'quxx'
end
o = Other.new
o.blork
> "baz"
> "quxx"
I still don't understand, what is author asking about. He's saying about "callbacks", but only wrote how he wants to pass parameter to some method. What that method(foo) should do - i have no idea.
So I tried to predict it's implementation. On class initialising it gets the name of method and create private method, that should be called somewhere under the hood. It possible not to create new method, but store method name in class variable and then call it somewhere.
module Foo
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
module ClassMethods
def foo(method_name)
define_method :_foo do
send method_name
end
end
end
end
class BaseClass
include Foo
end
class MyClass < BaseClass
foo :my_method
private
def my_method
"Hello world"
end
end
MyClass.new.send(:_foo)
#=> "Hello world"
And really, everything is much clearer when you're not just wondering how it works in rails, but viewing the source code: layout.rb

How to discover the overrided methods in Ruby/Rails?

Hey guys.
How do I know the methods that a child class overrided in my super class?
I have this:
class Test
def self.inherited(child)
# child.overrided_methods???
end
def self.foo
end
def self.bar
end
end
def Child < Test
def self.bar
puts "bar"
end
end
The method self.inherited is called when a subclass of Test is loaded. So I get the reference to this subclass in child, but I don't know how to get the methods that were overrided by this subclass.
Any ideas?
--
Arsen suggested the use of self.method_added(name) instead of self.inherited(child), but this method catches only instance methods and I want to catch class methods. Does anyone know another methods that does the same thing but with class methods?
In the last case I'll consider using a singleton and convert all this class methods to instance methods then the problem is solved.
For instance methods there is an Object::method_added(name) method you can override, similar to 'inherited' you have used:
class test
def self.method_added(name)
puts "method_added(#{name.inspect})"
super
end
end
irb(main):002:0> class Child < Test; def foo; end; end
method_added(:foo)
=> nil
You can then compare a received name to a list of your methods:
Test.instance_methods.include?(name.to_s)
With class methods this approach does not work (even if you do things like class << self magic), but a helpful fellow knew the answer: http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/120416 :
class Test
def self.singleton_method_added(name)
puts "Class method added #{name.inspect}"
end
end
This is only the first part of the problem, because you need to know which class defined the method (it will be self) and whether the method is a new one, or overridden one. Experiment with this code:
class Test
def self.singleton_method_added(name)
if self == Test
puts "My own class method added: #{self.name}.#{name.inspect}"
elsif Test.methods(false).include?(name.to_s)
puts "Class method overriden: #{self.name}.#{name.inspect}"
elsif Test.methods(true).include?(name.to_s)
puts "My parent's class method overriden: #{self.name}.#{name.inspect}"
else
puts "New class method added: #{self.name}.#{name.inspect}"
end
end
end
Maybe a first step to the solution:
By calling child.instance_method(:bar) (if child refers to the class) or child.method(:bar) (if it refers to an instance of Child) you can get an UnboundMethod or Method object representing your method:
a = Test.instance_method(:foo)
b = Child.instance_method(:foo)
Unfortunately, a == b evaluates to false, although both refer to the same method.
def overridden_methods
klass = self.class
klass.instance_methods.select {|m| klass.instance_method(m).owner == klass}
end
Change according to your needs.

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