Class: Module

Inherits:
Object show all
Defined in:
lib/support/active_support_lite/module/delegation.rb

Instance Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Details

#delegate(*methods) ⇒ Object

Provides a delegate class method to easily expose contained objects' methods as your own. Pass one or more methods (specified as symbols or strings) and the name of the target object as the final :to option (also a symbol or string). At least one method and the :to option are required.

Delegation is particularly useful with Active Record associations:

class Greeter < ActiveRecord::Base
def hello()   "hello"   end
def goodbye() "goodbye" end
end

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :greeter
delegate :hello, :to => :greeter
end

Foo.new.hello   # => "hello"
Foo.new.goodbye # => NoMethodError: undefined method `goodbye' for #<Foo:0x1af30c>

Multiple delegates to the same target are allowed:

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :greeter
delegate :hello, :goodbye, :to => :greeter
end

Foo.new.goodbye # => "goodbye"

Methods can be delegated to instance variables, class variables, or constants by providing them as a symbols:

class Foo
CONSTANT_ARRAY = [0,1,2,3]
@@class_array  = [4,5,6,7]

def initialize
  @instance_array = [8,9,10,11]
end
delegate :sum, :to => :CONSTANT_ARRAY
delegate :min, :to => :@@class_array
delegate :max, :to => :@instance_array
end

Foo.new.sum # => 6
Foo.new.min # => 4
Foo.new.max # => 11

Delegates can optionally be prefixed using the :prefix option. If the value is true, the delegate methods are prefixed with the name of the object being delegated to.

Person = Struct.new(:name, :address)

class Invoice < Struct.new(:client)
delegate :name, :address, :to => :client, :prefix => true
end

john_doe = Person.new("John Doe", "Vimmersvej 13")
invoice = Invoice.new(john_doe)
invoice.client_name    # => "John Doe"
invoice.client_address # => "Vimmersvej 13"

It is also possible to supply a custom prefix.

class Invoice < Struct.new(:client)
delegate :name, :address, :to => :client, :prefix => :customer
end

invoice = Invoice.new(john_doe)
invoice.customer_name    # => "John Doe"
invoice.customer_address # => "Vimmersvej 13"

If the object to which you delegate can be nil, you may want to use the :allow_nil option. In that case, it returns nil instead of raising a NoMethodError exception:

class Foo attr_accessor :bar def initialize(bar = nil) @bar = bar end delegate :zoo, :to => :bar end

Foo.new.zoo # raises NoMethodError exception (you called nil.zoo)

class Foo attr_accessor :bar def initialize(bar = nil) @bar = bar end delegate :zoo, :to => :bar, :allow_nil => true end

Foo.new.zoo # returns nil



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# File 'lib/support/active_support_lite/module/delegation.rb', line 99

def delegate(*methods)
  options = methods.pop
  unless options.is_a?(Hash) && to = options[:to]
    raise ArgumentError, "Delegation needs a target. Supply an options hash with a :to key as the last argument (e.g. delegate :hello, :to => :greeter)."
  end

  if options[:prefix] == true && options[:to].to_s =~ /^[^a-z_]/
    raise ArgumentError, "Can only automatically set the delegation prefix when delegating to a method."
  end

  prefix = options[:prefix] && "#{options[:prefix] == true ? to : options[:prefix]}_"

  file, line = caller.first.split(':', 2)
  line = line.to_i

  methods.each do |method|
    on_nil =
      if options[:allow_nil]
        'return'
      else
        %(raise "#{prefix}#{method} delegated to #{to}.#{method}, but #{to} is nil: \#{self.inspect}")
      end

    module_eval("      def \#{prefix}\#{method}(*args, &block)                           # def customer_name(*args, &block)\n        \#{on_nil} if \#{to}.nil?\n        \#{to}.__send__(\#{method.inspect}, *args, &block)  #   client && client.__send__(:name, *args, &block)\n      end                                                             # end\n    EOS\n  end\nend\n", file, line)