How to alias a class method within a module? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am using Ruby v1.9.2 and the Ruby on Rails v3.2.2 gem. I had the following module
module MyModule
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def self.my_method(arg1, arg2)
...
end
end
end
and I wanted to alias the class method my_method. So, I stated the following (not working) code:
module MyModule
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def self.my_method(arg1, arg2)
...
end
# Note: the following code doesn't work (it raises "NameError: undefined
# local variable or method `new_name' for #<Class:0x00000101412b00>").
def self.alias_class_method(new_name, old_name)
class << self
alias_method new_name, old_name
end
end
alias_class_method :my_new_method, :my_method
end
end
In other words, I thought to extend the Module class someway in order to add an alias_class_method method available throughout MyModule. However, I would like to make it to work and to be available in all my Ruby on Rails application.
Where I should put the file related to the Ruby core extension of the Module class? Maybe in the Ruby on Rails lib directory?
How should I properly "extend" the Module class in the core extension file?
Is it the right way to proceed? That is, for example, should I "extend" another class (Object, BasicObject, Kernel, ...) rather than Module? or, should I avoid implementing the mentioned core extension at all?
But, more important, is there a Ruby feature that makes what I am trying to accomplish so that I don't have to extend its classes?

Answer 1

You could use define_singleton_method to wrap your old method under a new name, like so:
module MyModule
def alias_class_method(new_name, old_name)
define_singleton_method(new_name) { old_name }
end
end
class MyClass
def my_method
puts "my method"
end
end
MyClass.extend(MyModule)
MyClass.alias_class_method(:my_new_method, :my_method)
MyClass.my_new_method # => "my method"
Answering your comment, you wouldn't have to extend every single class by hand. The define_singleton_method is implemented in the Object class. So you could simply extend the Object class, so every class should have the method available...
Object.extend(MyModule)
Put this in an initializer in your Rails app and you should be good to go...

Answer 2

I found an answer on this website: http://engineering.lonelyplanet.com/2012/12/09/monitoring-our-applications-ruby-methods/
The solution is to use class_eval with a block. That enables using variables from the enclosing scope.
module Alias
def trigger
#trigger = true
end
def method_added(name)
if #trigger
#trigger = false
with_x = "#{name}_with_x"
without_x = "#{name}_without_x"
define_method(with_x) do
"#{send(without_x)} with x"
end
alias_method without_x, name
alias_method name, with_x
end
end
def singleton_method_added(name)
if #trigger
#trigger = false
with_x = "#{name}_with_x"
without_x = "#{name}_without_x"
define_singleton_method(with_x) do
"singleton #{send(without_x)} with x"
end
singleton_class.class_eval do
alias_method without_x, name
alias_method name, with_x
end
end
end
end
class TestAlias
extend Alias
trigger
def self.foo
'foo'
end
trigger
def bar
'bar'
end
end
TestAlias.foo # => 'singleton foo with x'
TestAlias.new.bar # => 'bar with x'
If you don't have singleton_class then you should probably upgrade your version of Ruby. If that's not possible you can do this:
class Object
def singleton_class
class << self
self
end
end
end

Answer 3

The accepted answer was confusing and did not work.
class Module
def alias_class_method(new_name, old_name)
define_singleton_method(new_name, singleton_method(old_name))
end
end
module MyModule
def self.my_method
'my method'
end
end
MyModule.alias_class_method(:my_new_method, :my_method)
MyModule.my_new_method # => "my_method"