Defining an ActiveRecord class within a method of another class

Ruby
1

Hi,

I want to create a class and define a subclass of ActiveRecord within
that class, like this:

class Results
def initialize(db)
class db < ActiveRecord::Base
end
end
end

r1 = Results.new(‘DM’)
r2 = Results.new(‘AE’)

Then I want to put that class definition into an object and use it in
the instance methods of the Results class. (The instance methods of the
Results class will do stuff with database tables, but I want to pick
which table when I create the instances of the Results class.)

I am sure that the syntax above is wrong – probably in many ways – but
am unsure how to fix it. Ruby does not seem to want to allow class
definitions within methods, but if I can’t do that, I do not know of
another way to do this.

Thanks for your help.

2

I’m guessing this would do the trick :

irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval(“class #{cls};end”)
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end
irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval(“class #{cls};end”)
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end

You can modify what’s being evaled .

3

Sorry , I pasted the same thing twice

irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval(“class #{cls};end”)
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):048:0> x = Res.get(“G”)
=> #Res::G:0xb7c05d5c
irb(main):049:0> x.class
=> Res::G

4

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Glenn [email protected] wrote:

r1 = Results.new(‘DM’)
r2 = Results.new(‘AE’)

Then I want to put that class definition into an object and use it in the instance methods of the Results class. (The instance methods of the Results class will do stuff with database tables, but I want to pick which table when I create the instances of the Results class.)

I am sure that the syntax above is wrong – probably in many ways – but am unsure how to fix it. Ruby does not seem to want to allow class definitions within methods, but if I can’t do that, I do not know of another way to do this.

Maybe this helps: I created a table named A, with id and description.
Then (you have require active_record and establish the connection):

irb(main):081:0> class Result
irb(main):082:1> def initialize table
irb(main):083:2> @db = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) do
irb(main):084:3* set_table_name table
irb(main):085:3> end
irb(main):086:2> end
irb(main):087:1> attr_reader :db
irb(main):088:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):089:0> a = Result.new(“A”)
=> #<Result:0xb7478bc0 @db=#Class:0xb7478b98(id: integer,
description: string)>
irb(main):090:0> a.db.find(:all)
=> [#<#Class:0xb7478b98 id: 1, description: “test”>,
#<#Class:0xb7478b98 id: 2, description: “test 2”>]

I did the set_table_name because I think you want to choose the table
name to be the parameter passed to the Result initialize method, and
skip ActiveRecord’s pluralization stuff. I store the generated class
in an instance variable. Through this variable you get access to the
ActiveRecord class.

Jesus.

5

Glenn wrote:

Hi,

I want to create a class and define a subclass of ActiveRecord within
that class, like this:

class Results
def initialize(db)
class db < ActiveRecord::Base
end
end
end

r1 = Results.new(‘DM’)
r2 = Results.new(‘AE’)

Class.new(superclass) should do what you need without need to eval
anything. This gives you an anonymous class, which you can then assign
to a constant to give it a proper class name. Something like (untested):

class Results
def initialize(name)
@klass = Results.const_set(name, Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base))
end
def query
@klass.find(…)
end
end

r1 = Results.new(‘DM’)
Results::DM.find(…)