Require two identically named classes in ruby - ruby-on-rails

In my rails application I connect to another ruby application foo that has a class Database in its folder /classes/database.rb and to another application bar that has another class Databse in its folder /classes/database.rb
In that application I have to put the requires in the application controller. That is done by the following code
$: << "C:\foo\
require "plug_in_foo.rb"
in the plug_in_foo.rb there are the requires of the foo project, i.e.
require "/classes/database.rb"
as in the foo project so for the bar project
$: << "C:\bar\
require "plug_in_bar.rb"
and in the plug_in_bar.rb there are the requires of the bar project, i.e.
require "/classes/database.rb"
The Database class in the bar project has its own module wrapped around it but when I try to access the class by BaRModule::Datbase.new it is recognized as an unitialized constant so I think that the require does not work.
Can someone help me with this? Is there a workaround for this?

You can require the absolute paths to the different database files.
(You might also check, if you really need to add all this stuff to your load path)

you should include both of your module in your class like include BaRModule

Related

Rails modules as strict namespaces

I'm quite new to rails and I'm a bit confused of how modules work here. I have a project structure like this:
# app/models/foo.rb
class Foo < ActiveRecord
# lib/external_service/foo.rb
module ExternalService
class Foo
# lib/external_service/bar.rb
module ExternalService
class Bar
attribute :foo, Foo # not the model
I have worked with many coding languages before and I expected it to be easily possible to use 'Foo' inside Bar and ExternalService just like that but
LoadError: Unable to autoload constant Foo, expected lib/external_service/foo.rb to define it
The ExternalService::Foo should normally not even be visible outside of ExternalService but the whole project dies on this thing
Am I just missing a kinda 'strict mode'-notation or anything to make sure that I obviously mean ExternalService::Foo inside the service and prevent the service from killing my model?
I know I can just prepend the module but i wanna keep the code readable.
so you are using rails 4
if you want to create a module, first you need to import or autoload your lib folder
for example in application.rb you can add lib folder to autoload:
config.autoload_paths << Rails.root.join('lib')
after that because you are using rails you should create a folder hierarchy with snake cased name of your module hierarchy
for example if you have:
module ExternalService
class Foo
...
end
end
your foo.rb file should be in a folder with name 'external_service'
{{project_root}}/lib/external_service/foo.rb
folder hierarchy is convention of rails.
Ruby behaves just like this and it's totally ok.
In this case the Foo-Model is already loaded, so ruby prefers this instead of the local one. Also alphabetically app/ is before lib/
A not so beautiful but quick fix is just to call it like this:
attribute :foo, ExternalService::Foo

How do I create my own method to change a string in Ruby on Rails? [duplicate]

I want to build an index for different objects in my Rails project and would like to add a 'count_occurences' method that I can call on String objects.
I saw I could do something like
class String
def self.count_occurences
do_something_here
end
end
What's the exact way to define this method, and where to put the code in my Rails project?
Thanks
You can define a new class in your application at lib/ext/string.rb and put this content in it:
class String
def to_magic
"magic"
end
end
To load this class, you will need to require it in your config/application.rb file or in an initializer. If you had many of these extensions, an initializer is better! The way to load it is simple:
require 'ext/string'
The to_magic method will then be available on instances of the String class inside your application / console, i.e.:
>> "not magic".to_magic
=> "magic"
No plugins necessary.
I know this is an old thread, but it doesn't seem as if the accepted solution works in Rails 4+ (at least not for me). Putting the extension rb file in to config/initializers worked.
Alternatively, you can add /lib to the Rails autoloader (in config/application.rb, in the Application class:
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib)
require 'ext/string'
See this:
http://brettu.com/rails-ruby-tips-203-load-lib-files-in-rails-4/
When you want to extend some core class then you usually want to create a plugin (it is handy when need this code in another application). Here you can find a guide how to create a plugin http://guides.rubyonrails.org/plugins.html and point #3 show you how to extend String class: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/plugins.html#extending-core-classes

Inheriting from custom classes within models in rails

Just curious on how things autoloading works in rails
app/models/base_facebook_object.rb
class BaseFacebookObject
end
In the file where I require it,
app/models/fb_campaign.rb
class FbCampaign < BaseFacebookObject
end
But the above doesn't work as it says BaseFacebookObject not defined?
Do I always have to require the base object file in such cases?
require "#{Rails.root}/app/models/base_facebook_object"
Thanks in advance
The autoloader will resolve unfound constant. In your case if you call FbCampaign it will check for the file fb_campaign.rb, then during the loading will find BaseFacebookObject and load base_facebook_object.rb
In other words, no requires needed. Actually you should never use require in a RoR application except for std lib not yet loaded (eg. securerandom, base64 etc. ) or files into a lib/non-autoloaded path.

Rails3/4 load path for class tweak

I'm trying to add a method to the DateTime class like so:
class DateTime
def ymd(sep = "/")
strftime("%Y#{sep}%m#{sep}%d")
end
end
I put this in #{config.root}/lib/datetime.rb and updated the autoload_path to include #{config.root}/lib (since that seems to go in and out of the conventional autoload path). That didn't work, so I also tried putting it in a random directory (#{config.root}/blah and added that path to the autoload_paths line in the config).
In all of the above cases, I'm only able to use the new method in the rails console if I require 'datetime' first, and I'm not able to use it in controllers or view templates no matter what I do.
So,
Should the file be called datetime.rb or date_time.rb? (I've tried both so far and neither are currently working)
Where should I be putting this file so I can use the new method in models, controllers and views?
Any idea why I can require it in the console, but it doesn't autoload there?
The app is currently running rails 3.2.21, but I'll switch to rails 4 at some point so answers for either version are appreciated.

How to extend an 'unloadable' Rails plugin?

I'm trying to write a plugin that will extend InheritedResources.
Specifically I want to rewrite some default helpers.
And I'd like it to "just work" once installed, w/o any changes to application code.
The functionality is provided in a module which needs to be included in a right place. The question is where? :)
The first attempt was to do it in my plugin's init.rb:
InheritedResources::Base.send :include, MyModule
It works in production, but fails miserably in development since InheritedResource::Base declared as unloadable and so its code is reloaded on each request. So my module is there for the first request,
and then its gone.
InheritedResource::Base is 'pulled' in again by any controller that uses it:
Class SomeController < InheritedResource::Base
But no code is 'pulling in' my extension module since it is not referenced anywhere except init.rb which is not re-loaded on each request
So right now I'm just including the module manually in every controller that needs it which sucks.
I can't even include it once in ApplicationController because InheritedResources inherites from it and so it will override any changes back.
update
I'm not looking for advice on how to 'monkey patch'. The extension is working in production just great. my problem is how to catch moment exactly after InheritedResources loaded to stick my extension into it :)
update2
another attempt at clarification:
the sequence of events is
a) rails loads plugins. my plugin loads after inherited_resources and patches it.
b) a development mode request is served and works
c) rails unloads all the 'unloadable' code which includes all application code and also
inherited_resources
d) another request comes in
e) rails loads controller, which inherites from inherited resources
f) rails loads inherited resources which inherit from application_controller
g) rails loads application_contrller (or may be its already loaded at this stage, not sure)
g) request fails as no-one loaded my plugin to patch inherited_resources. plugin init.rb files are not reloaded
I need to catch the point in time between g and h
The Rails::Configuration, config in the environment files, allows registering a callback on the dispatcher that runs before each request in development mode, or once when in production mode.
config.to_prepare do
# do something here
end
The problem is, I don't think your plugin has access to config when the init.rb file is run. Here is a way to register your callback directly in the dispatcher. Just put this in the init.rb file.
require 'dispatcher'
::Dispatcher.to_prepare do
puts "hi there from a plugin"
end
Warning: I don't know what side effects this may have. If possible, try to get access to config and register the callback tha right way.
What you are attempting to do is usually called "MonkeyPatch" - changing the way one module or class is working by "overriding" methods.
It is a common practice in Rails, but it doesn't mean it is the best way to do things - when possible, it is better to use common inheritance (it is more explicit about the changes you make).
Regarding your questions about "where to put the files": it is usually the lib/ directory. This can mean the lib of the rails app, or a lib directory inside a gem or plugin, if you are into that sort of thing.
For example, if the file you want to change is lib/generators/rails/templates/controller.rb of inherited resources, the first thing you have to do is replicate that directory structure inside your lib/ folder ('lib/generators/rails/templates/controller.rb')
Inside that new file of yours, (empty at the beginning) you can override methods. However, you must also the modules/classes hierarchy. So if the original gem had this:
module foo
module bar
def f1
...
end
def f2
...
end
end
def f3
...
end
end
And you wanted to modify f1, you would have to respect the foo-bar modules.
module foo
module bar
def f1
... # your code here
end
end
end
Now the last thing you need is to make sure this code is executed at the right time. If you are using the application's lib/ folder, you will need to create an entry on the initializers/ folder and require your new file. If you are developing a gem/plugin, you will have a init.rb file on the "root" folder of that plugin. Put the 'require' there.
I'm not very familiar with this unloadable stuff; maybe I'm asking something obvious but- have you tried making your extension module unloadable, too? (You shouldn't need this if you monkeypatched the module instead of creating a new one)

Resources