Class: OpenStruct

Inherits:
Object
  • Object
show all
Defined in:
lib/ostruct.rb

Overview

An OpenStruct is a data structure, similar to a Hash, that allows the definition of arbitrary attributes with their accompanying values. This is accomplished by using Ruby’s metaprogramming to define methods on the class itself.

Examples

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new
person.name = "John Smith"
person.age  = 70

person.name      # => "John Smith"
person.age       # => 70
person.address   # => nil

An OpenStruct employs a Hash internally to store the attributes and values and can even be initialized with one:

australia = OpenStruct.new(:country => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
  # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">

Hash keys with spaces or characters that could normally not be used for method calls (e.g. ()[]*) will not be immediately available on the OpenStruct object as a method for retrieval or assignment, but can still be reached through the Object#send method or using [].

measurements = OpenStruct.new("length (in inches)" => 24)
measurements[:"length (in inches)"]       # => 24
measurements.send("length (in inches)")   # => 24

message = OpenStruct.new(:queued? => true)
message.queued?                           # => true
message.send("queued?=", false)
message.queued?                           # => false

Removing the presence of an attribute requires the execution of the delete_field method as setting the property value to nil will not remove the attribute.

first_pet  = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy", :owner => "John Smith")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy")

first_pet.owner = nil
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy", owner=nil>
first_pet == second_pet   # => false

first_pet.delete_field(:owner)
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy">
first_pet == second_pet   # => true

Ractor compatibility: A frozen OpenStruct with shareable values is itself shareable.

Caveats

An OpenStruct utilizes Ruby’s method lookup structure to find and define the necessary methods for properties. This is accomplished through the methods method_missing and define_singleton_method.

This should be a consideration if there is a concern about the performance of the objects that are created, as there is much more overhead in the setting of these properties compared to using a Hash or a Struct. Creating an open struct from a small Hash and accessing a few of the entries can be 200 times slower than accessing the hash directly.

This is a potential security issue; building OpenStruct from untrusted user data (e.g. JSON web request) may be susceptible to a “symbol denial of service” attack since the keys create methods and names of methods are never garbage collected.

This may also be the source of incompatibilities between Ruby versions:

o = OpenStruct.new
o.then # => nil in Ruby < 2.6, enumerator for Ruby >= 2.6

Builtin methods may be overwritten this way, which may be a source of bugs or security issues:

o = OpenStruct.new
o.methods # => [:to_h, :marshal_load, :marshal_dump, :each_pair, ...
o.methods = [:foo, :bar]
o.methods # => [:foo, :bar]

To help remedy clashes, OpenStruct uses only protected/private methods ending with ‘!` and defines aliases for builtin public methods by adding a `!`:

o = OpenStruct.new(make: 'Bentley', class: :luxury)
o.class # => :luxury
o.class! # => OpenStruct

It is recommended (but not enforced) to not use fields ending in ‘!`; Note that a subclass’ methods may not be overwritten, nor can OpenStruct’s own methods ending with ‘!`.

For all these reasons, consider not using OpenStruct at all.

Constant Summary collapse

VERSION = 
"0.3.0"
InspectKey =

:nodoc:

:__inspect_key__

Instance Attribute Summary collapse

Instance Method Summary collapse

Constructor Details

#initialize(hash = nil) ⇒ OpenStruct

Creates a new OpenStruct object. By default, the resulting OpenStruct object will have no attributes.

The optional hash, if given, will generate attributes and values (can be a Hash, an OpenStruct or a Struct). For example:

require "ostruct"
hash = { "country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra" }
data = OpenStruct.new(hash)

data   # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 126

def initialize(hash=nil)
  if hash
    update_to_values!(hash)
  else
    @table = {}
  end
end

Dynamic Method Handling

This class handles dynamic methods through the method_missing method

#method_missing(mid, *args) ⇒ Object (private)

:nodoc:



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 248

private def method_missing(mid, *args) # :nodoc:
  len = args.length
  if mname = mid[/.*(?==\z)/m]
    if len != 1
      raise! ArgumentError, "wrong number of arguments (given #{len}, expected 1)", caller(1)
    end
    set_ostruct_member_value!(mname, args[0])
  elsif len == 0
  else
    begin
      super
    rescue NoMethodError => err
      err.backtrace.shift
      raise!
    end
  end
end

Instance Attribute Details

#table ⇒ Object (readonly) Also known as: table!

:nodoc:



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 372

def table
  @table
end

Instance Method Details

#==(other) ⇒ Object

Compares this object and other for equality. An OpenStruct is equal to other when other is an OpenStruct and the two objects’ Hash tables are equal.

require "ostruct"
first_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name  => "Rowdy")
third_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy", :age => nil)

first_pet == second_pet   # => true
first_pet == third_pet    # => false



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 389

def ==(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table == other.table!
end

#[](name) ⇒ Object

:call-seq:

ostruct[name]  -> object

Returns the value of an attribute, or ‘nil` if there is no such attribute.

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age]   # => 70, same as person.age



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 276

def [](name)
  @table[name.to_sym]
end

#[]=(name, value) ⇒ Object Also known as: set_ostruct_member_value!

:call-seq:

ostruct[name] = obj  -> obj

Sets the value of an attribute.

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age] = 42   # equivalent to person.age = 42
person.age          # => 42



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 291

def []=(name, value)
  name = name.to_sym
  new_ostruct_member!(name)
  @table[name] = value
end

#delete_field(name) ⇒ Object

Removes the named field from the object. Returns the value that the field contained if it was defined.

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new(name: "John", age: 70, pension: 300)

person.delete_field!("age")  # => 70
person                       # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=300>

Setting the value to nil will not remove the attribute:

person.pension = nil
person                 # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=nil>



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 338

def delete_field(name)
  sym = name.to_sym
  begin
    singleton_class.remove_method(sym, "#{sym}=")
  rescue NameError
  end
  @table.delete(sym) do
    raise! NameError.new("no field `#{sym}' in #{self}", sym)
  end
end

#dig(name, *names) ⇒ Object

:call-seq:

ostruct.dig(name, *identifiers) -> object

Finds and returns the object in nested objects that is specified by name and identifiers. The nested objects may be instances of various classes. See Dig Methods.

Examples:

require "ostruct"
address = OpenStruct.new("city" => "Anytown NC", "zip" => 12345)
person  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "address" => address)
person.dig(:address, "zip") # => 12345
person.dig(:business_address, "zip") # => nil



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 313

def dig(name, *names)
  begin
    name = name.to_sym
  rescue NoMethodError
    raise! TypeError, "#{name} is not a symbol nor a string"
  end
  @table.dig(name, *names)
end

#each_pair ⇒ Object

:call-seq:

ostruct.each_pair {|name, value| block }  -> ostruct
ostruct.each_pair                         -> Enumerator

Yields all attributes (as symbols) along with the corresponding values or returns an enumerator if no block is given.

require "ostruct"
data = OpenStruct.new("country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
data.each_pair.to_a   # => [[:country, "Australia"], [:capital, "Canberra"]]



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 199

def each_pair
  return to_enum(__method__) { @table.size } unless block_given?
  @table.each_pair{|p| yield p}
  self
end

#encode_with(coder) ⇒ Object

Provides marshalling support for use by the YAML library.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 412

def encode_with(coder) # :nodoc:
  @table.each_pair do |key, value|
    coder[key.to_s] = value
  end
  if @table.size == 1 && @table.key?(:table) # support for legacy format
    # in the very unlikely case of a single entry called 'table'
    coder['legacy_support!'] = true # add a bogus second entry
  end
end

#eql?(other) ⇒ Boolean

Compares this object and other for equality. An OpenStruct is eql? to other when other is an OpenStruct and the two objects’ Hash tables are eql?.

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 399

def eql?(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table.eql?(other.table!)
end

#freeze ⇒ Object 



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 243

def freeze
  @table.freeze
  super
end

#hash ⇒ Object

Computes a hash code for this OpenStruct.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 405

def hash # :nodoc:
  @table.hash
end

#init_with(coder) ⇒ Object

Provides marshalling support for use by the YAML library.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 425

def init_with(coder) # :nodoc:
  h = coder.map
  if h.size == 1 # support for legacy format
    key, val = h.first
    if key == 'table'
      h = val
    end
  end
  update_to_values!(h)
end

#inspect ⇒ Object Also known as: to_s

Returns a string containing a detailed summary of the keys and values.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 354

def inspect
  ids = (Thread.current[InspectKey] ||= [])
  if ids.include?(object_id)
    detail = ' ...'
  else
    ids << object_id
    begin
      detail = @table.map do |key, value|
        " #{key}=#{value.inspect}"
      end.join(',')
    ensure
      ids.pop
    end
  end
  ['#<', self.class!, detail, '>'].join
end

#marshal_dump ⇒ Object

Provides marshalling support for use by the Marshal library.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 208

def marshal_dump # :nodoc:
  @table
end

#marshal_load(x) ⇒ Object

Provides marshalling support for use by the Marshal library.



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 215

def marshal_load(x) # :nodoc:
  x.each_key{|key| new_ostruct_member!(key)}
  @table = x
end

#to_h(&block) ⇒ Object 



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# File 'lib/ostruct.rb', line 170

def to_h(&block)
  if block
    @table.to_h(&block)
  else
    @table.dup
  end
end