= BlockChainable

* http://block-chainable.rubyforge.org

== DESCRIPTION:

BlockChainable is a module to aid in the creation of Domain Specific Languages using block structure.
By including BlockChainable into your classes, you will be able to instantiate that class using the
class name itself, followed by any parameters to be passed to initialize, followed by a block to be
executed within the instantiated class.

BlockChainable also allows methods to search up the chain of classes, meaning that although a block
is executed in the scope of the instantiated class, any methods not found in the class but found in a
class "up-scope" will be called successfully on the up-scope class. This chaining of method calls allows
you to assert values within the blocks as well as calling any other methods from "up-scope" classes.

== FEATURES/PROBLEMS:

* 2 major features
* Block instantiation of classes
* Method calls will look "up-scope" for receives when called inside BlockChainable blocks
* 1 minor problem
* Stack trace should be simplified on errors within BlockChainable blocks

== SYNOPSIS:

# a simple dsl for creating classroom rosters and printing them out. code can be found in the
# example directory.

# first, define our roster
class Roster
include BlockChainable

def initialize(subject)
@subject = subject
@students = []
end

def add_student_to_roster student
@students << student
end

def print_roster
puts "Roster for #@subject:"
@students.each{|s| puts " #{s}"}
end
end

# next, define our student. the only tricky part here is add_to_roster, which calls
# the method add_student_to_class, which is actually defined on the Classroom class.
# BlockChainable will automatically send this method to the Classroom class with the
# Student instance as a parameter.
class Student
include BlockChainable

def add_to_roster
add_student_to_class self
end

def to_s
"#@last_name, #@first_name - age #@age"
end

def first_name name
@first_name = name
end

def last_name name
@last_name = name
end

def age years
@age = years
end
end

# we now have all the pieces we need for creating a simple dsl for building
# and printing a class roster
require 'block_chainable'

Roster :Math do
Student do
first_name "Drew"
last_name "Olson"
age 25

add_to_roster
end

Student do
first_name "John"
last_name "Doe"
age 17

add_to_roster
end

Student do
first_name "Jane"
last_name "Doe"
age 19

add_to_roster
end

print_roster
end

== REQUIREMENTS:

* need
* rspec

== INSTALL:

* sudo gem install block-chainable

== LICENSE:

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2008 Drew Olson

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.