NameError: undefined local variable or method `desired_preferences' - ruby-on-rails

I have created a module with a method
module Adding_preferences
def desired_preferences
#preference = %w(motabilitySpecialist newCars bodyshop filter8 filter7).each do |selection|
#browser.label(:for, selection ).click
end
end
end
I have included this module into a class:
class Pages
include Adding_preferences
attr_accessor :browser, :preference
def initialize
#browser = Watir::Browser.new :ff
end
end
World do
Pages.new
end
I am calling this method in a Cucumber scenario
When /^I select a desired preference$/ do
desired_preferences
end
But at runtime I receive an error, "NameError: undefined local variable or method `desired_preferences'". Where am i going wrong?

When you include a module to a class you can use this method in the instance methods of this class. You cant call the included method in a View that displays the data from the model that includes the module. For me it looks like you just dont use the desired_preferences method in an instance method.
Please show us the peace of code you try to call the method if this still doesnt help you out.
// The naming of the Module is not conventional. You should call it module AddingPreferences isntead ofmodule Adding_preferences and the file should be named adding_preferences.rb then try to include AddingPreferences

It's a good idea for you to spend some time getting more familiar with Ruby's Class/Module/Object/Method inheritance model, because the way you're structuring your code there is a little bit messy.
However, a simple thing to try (and I'm not going to guarantee that it will work flawlessly) is the following modifications:
Assign your instantiated Pages class to a class instance variable:
World do
#page = Pages.new
end
...and then use that instance variable in your step definition...
When /^I select a desired preference$/ do
#page.desired_preferences
end
I hope that helps!

Related

Call a method from an another class in Ruby (API rails)?

The question can be stupid, but I always develop in C# and now I need to develop in Ruby.
And I don't really understand how to call a method from an another class.
I mean, I've this structure :
- model
|_________ my_model.rb
|_________ helper
|____ my_helper_class
my_model.rb
def self.create_new_ticket(member_to_update)
# I want to call here my_helper_class
MyHelperClass.generate_guid
end
my_helper_class :
class MyHelperClass
def generate_guid
return "So haaard"
end
end
And I don't have access to my method named generate_guid from my other class.
I've this type of error :
uninitialized constant
I would like to have an access with a static class or whatever. The initilize method doesn't work too (given argument problem ??)
So I think I understand bad something with Ruby and the manipulation of objects because of my habits in C#.
Can you help me please ? With some good documentations or an example here ?
Thanks a lot guys.
I think your error is straightforward. Your generate_guid is not a "static method" or "class method". You have to put self in front of it in the definition which will make it a class method.
Another important thing to notice is you have created /helper folder inside /model so you have to implement helper class inside a module named Helper which should be same as folder name.
Helper class should be
module Helper
class MyHelperClass
def self.generate_guid
return "So haaard"
end
end
end
An alternate way to define class methods would be:
module Helper
class MyHelperClass
class << self
def generate_guid
"So haaard"
end
def some_other_class_method
"some thing"
end
end
end
end
So, whenever you have to call static method you have to call it with full scope like Helper::MyHelperClass.generate_guid

Ruby variables visibility inside modules

TL;DR;
I need to make some ##vars of a static method (extends) in one module visible to a instance method in another module(includes).
How to accomplish that once only setting ##var=value was not enough to make it visible?
Maybe you can just read my capitalized comment bellow and jump to question 4.
Hi, I would like to add an method to my models to index some data in a mysql table with some full text search fields.
In order to accomplish that, I created the following module:
module ElasticFakeIndexing
module IndexingTarget
#instance method to be called on model to get data to save
def build_index_data
{
entity_id: self.id,
entity_type: self.class.name,
#UNABLE TO ACCESS IF SET ONLY WITH ##var=value. Why?
#AND ALMOST SURE THAT USING class_variable_set IS THE CAUSE OF CONFIGURATION OF ONE MODULE MESSING UP WITH ANOTHER'S
title: ##title_fields.collect{|prop| self.send(prop.to_sym)}.join(" || "),
description: ##description_fields.collect{|prop| self.send(prop.to_sym)}.join(" || "),
}
end
def self.included(base)
base.extend ClassMethods
end
module ClassMethods
#class method to declare/call at a given model
def elastic_fake(options = {})
#Make sure we always get an array so we can use 'join'
title_arg = Array(options[:title])
ElasticFakeIndexing::IndexingTarget.class_variable_set(:##title_fields, title_arg)
description_arg = Array(options[:description])
ElasticFakeIndexing::IndexingTarget.class_variable_set(:##description_fields, description_arg)
extra_arg = Array(options[:extra])
ElasticFakeIndexing::IndexingTarget.class_variable_set(:##extra_args, extra_arg)
end
end
end
end
And I use it this way at my models:
class SomeModel < ApplicationRecord
#includes the module
include ElasticFakeIndexing::IndexingTarget
...
# 'static' method call to configure to all classes of this model
elastic_fake(title: "prop_a", description: ["prop_b", "prop_c", "prop_d"])
end
And at some point of my code something like this will be called:
index_data = some_model_instance.build_index_data
save_on_mysql_text_search_fields(index_data)
But I got some problems. And have some questions:
when I use/include my module in a second model, looks like the configuration of one model is being visible to the other. And I got 'invalid fields' like errors. I guess it happens because of this, for example:
ElasticFakeIndexing::IndexingTarget.class_variable_set(:##title_fields, title_arg)
But I got to this this because only set ##title_fields wasn't enough to make title_fields visible at build_index_data instance method. Why?
Why using only #title_fields isn't enough too to make it visible at build_index_data?
How to design it in a way that the set of fields are set in a 'static' variable for each model, and visible inside the instance method build_index_data? Or as a possible solution, the fields could live in a instance variable and be visible. But I think it should live in a 'static' variable because the fields will not change from one instance of the model to another...
Any thoughts? What am I missing about the variables scopes/visibility?
Thank you
Read the following articles on Ruby variables:
Ruby Variable Scope
Understanding Scope in Ruby
quick reminder: ##title_fields, class variable, must be initialized at creation time, while #title_fields, instance variable, hasn't such requirement.
Instead of relying on class variables I recommend using class side instance variables. Class variables will easily be overwritten between individual models including the module. Class side instance variables however are save.
Using some of the syntactic sugar (namely concern and class_attribute) rails offers you could write something like
module ElasticFakeIndexing
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
class_attribute :title_fields,
:description_fields,
:extra_args
end
class_methods do
def elastic_fake(options = {})
...
self.title_fields = Array(options[:title])
...
end
end
def build_index_data
...
title: self.class.title_fields ...
...
end
end

Using methods defined in a module with class methods in Ruby

I have a small problem that I can't quite get my head around. Since I want to reuse a lot of the methods defined in my Class i decided to put them into an Helper, which I can easily include whenever needed. The basic Class looks like this:
class MyClass
include Helper::MyHelper
def self.do_something input
helper_method(input)
end
end
And here is the Helper:
module Helper
module MyHelper
def helper_method input
input.titleize
end
end
end
Right now I can't call "helper_method" from my Class because of what I think is a scope issue? What am I doing wrong?
I guess that is because self pointer inside of do_something input is InternshipInputFormatter, and not the instance of InternshipInputFormatter. so proper alias to call helper_method(input) will be self.helper_method(input), however you have included the Helper::MyHelper into the InternshipInputFormatter class as an instance methods, not a singleton, so try to extend the class with the instance methods of the module as the signelton methods for the class:
class InternshipInputFormatter
extend Helper::MyHelper
def self.do_something input
helper_method(input)
end
end
InternshipInputFormatter.do_something 1
# NoMethodError: undefined method `titleize' for 1:Fixnum
As you can see, the call has stopped the execution inside the helper_method. Please refer to the document to see the detailed difference between include, and extend.

Ruby NoMethodError

Ok, I'm a bit of a newb. I know this error is occuring because I don't properly understand something about how methods are called. So can you help me understand what is going wrong here?
NoMethodError in ThingController#index
undefined method `initialized?' for Thing::Backend:Class
From the erroring section of ThingController.rb:
class ThingController
def init_things
Backend.init_things unless Backend.initialized?
end
t = ThingController.new
t.init_things
end
inside Backend.rb
class Backend
# checks if the things hash is initialized
def initialized?
#initialized ||= false
end
# loads things
def init_things
puts "I've loaded a bunch of files into a hash"
#initialized = true
end
end
I'm not calling the method correctly and I cannot find any clear explanations for this error on the internet. Please help.
Thanks
It appears that the issue is that the initialized method that you have declared in Backend is an instance method. When you then call Backend.initialized? you are calling calling the class method initialized? for the Backend class. This method is not defined, and so it raises the NoMethodError. You can solve this by declaring the method using def self.initialized?. If you really want this to be a class method, you may need to consider how the rest of your code is organized.
You can find more information on class vs. instance methods at http://railstips.org/blog/archives/2009/05/11/class-and-instance-methods-in-ruby/
You've declared initialized? as an instance method but are calling it as if it were a class method. Here's an explanation of the difference between instance methods and class methods.

Can I define_method in rails models?

My rails model has code that is attempting to define_method(method_name) inside the model.
I keep getting:
NoMethodError: undefined method `define_method'
What am I doing wrong? Am I doing this in the wrong place. I need this method attached to this model. Where else can I define this method?
EDIT:
For those asking to see the code:
for field in rdev_fields
next if self.attributes.include?(field)
count = count + 1
rdev_hash[field.to_sym] = self.attributes["attribute#{count}"]
if !self.respond_to?(field) then
define_method("#{field}") do
self.send("attribute#{count}".to_sym)
end
end
end
There's nothing magical or about a rails model, it's just a normal class with a bunch of pre-existing methods,
So, the question is "can I define_method in a class"?
Part 1: Yes you can.
The important distinction is than you can define method in a class not in an instance method
For example:
class Cow
define_method "speak" do
"MOOOO"
end
end
Cow.new.speak
=> "MOOOO"
This should work fine. Note you're defining it on the class Cow, so any other Cows that you already have will automatically get that method added.
Part 2: What do you do if you want to define a method from within an instance method?
You can't define methods from an instance method, so you have to grab the class, and use that to define the method. Like this:
class Cow
def add_speak
self.class.send(:define_method, :speak) do
"MOOOO added"
end
end
end
Cow.new.speak
NoMethodError: undefined method 'speak' for #<Cow:0xb7c48530>
Cow.new.add_speak
Cow.new.speak
=> "MOOOO added"
Problem solved. Astute readers will note that in this example I'm using send(:define_method) - this is needed because define_method is private, and private methods are only accessible to the thing they're in. In this case, define_method is in the class, we are in the instance, so we can't directly access it.
As above though, we're adding the method directly to the class, so all other Cows which already exist will automatically also get the speak method added.
Part 3: What do you do if you want to define a method for only 1 object, not all objects of that class?
Example:
class Cow
def add_speak_just_me
class << self
define_method "speak" do
"MOOOO added for just me"
end
end
end
end
Cow.new.speak
NoMethodError: undefined method 'speak' for #<Cow:0xb7c72b78>
c = Cow.new
c.add_speak_just_me
c.speak
=> "MOOOO added for just me" # it works, hooray
Cow.new.speak # this new cow doesn't have the method, it hasn't been automatically added
NoMethodError: undefined method `speak' for #<Cow:0xb7c65b1c>
How does this work? Down the rabbithole you go!
Read this: http://dannytatom.me/metaid/ and good luck. It helps when you realise that 'adding a method' to an instance isn't actually adding it to the instance at all :-)
If you came here searching for how to dynamically define a CLASS method, because define_method wasn't working (because it defines INSTANCE methods), here is your answer:
Use define_singleton_method :)
was able to cobble this together. Very little understanding of what's actually going on though.
My instance method foo is opening the class and defining bar on it so that I can then call that on my instance. More experienced folks will let us know if this is opening a can of worms at the same time.
Would be useful to know your specific use for this though.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def foo
(class << self; self; end).class_eval do
define_method(:bar) {puts "bar"}
end
end
end
u = User.first
u.foo
u.bar #=> "bar"
The answer to your question is "yes, you can". As for why it's not working for you - it's impossible to say for sure why, if you don't provide some context for the code.

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