# Backgrounddrb problem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 5, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215 "2007-04-05T18:32:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stewbawka)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215/1 "2007-04-05T18:32:11Z")

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i’m having some problems getting a simple example going with  
backgrounDRB.

after i set my worker to work i try to get back the result like this:  
w = MiddleMan.worker(key)

w.items comes back as DRb::DRbUnknown (i have items as attr\_reader in  
my worker and access it inside there with @items). the result is  
actually activerecord results in an array. when i change it so my  
worker puts results.inspect into @items it comes back like it should,  
but when its bringing back activerecord results it seems to think its  
DRbUnknown instead of an array of whatever… what do i do?

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**Author:** ![stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stewbawka)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215/2 "2007-04-06T00:09:47Z")

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On Apr 5, 2007, at 9:30 AM, stewbawka wrote:

> worker puts results.inspect into @items it comes back like it should,  
> but when its bringing back activerecord results it seems to think its  
> DRbUnknown instead of an array of whatever… what do i do?

You shouldn’t pass entire ActiveRecord objects over the drb  
connection as it is way slow because it has to marshall everything  
before it sends it over. You woudl be better just sending an array of  
id’s back to rails and grabing the results in rails.

But if you really want to pass AR objects over the drb connection  
then you ned to add this line to any models you want to pass:

class MyModel \< AR:Base

include DRbUndumped

```
# rest of code

```

end

Then you will get the right objects instead of drbunknown.

Cheers-  
– Ezra Z.  
– Lead Rails Evangelist  
– removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
– Engine Y., Serious Rails Hosting  
– (866) 518-YARD (9273)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stewbawka)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215/3 "2008-02-09T00:28:50Z")

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I have tried to do something like recently in my code but I get a  
NoMethodError for the worker method.

> w = MiddleMan.worker(key)

Every example I’ve seen describing how to use BackgroundDRB is  
contradictory or incomplete. What I’d like to do is launch a thread in  
the background and monitor it’s progress. I found an example of how to  
do this but it doesn’t seem to work.

And, where are is the documentation for MiddleMan anyway?

Any help much appreciated.

Rich

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**Author:** ![stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stewbawka)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215/4 "2008-02-09T03:28:35Z")

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On 8 Feb 2008, at 23:28, Richard E. wrote:

> to  
> do this but it doesn’t seem to work.
> 
> And, where are is the documentation for MiddleMan anyway?

Have you tried asking on the backgroundrb list ?

Fred

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**Author:** ![stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@stewbawka](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stewbawka)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/backgrounddrb-problem/91215/5 "2008-02-09T17:58:55Z")

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On Sat, Feb 9, 2008 at 4:58 AM, Richard E.  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> And, where are is the documentation for MiddleMan anyway?

Well, _many_ people have encountered problems simply because, there is  
just too much confusion floating around, which version of bdrb to use.  
BUT, if you follow the official documentation, which is available here:

[http://backgroundrb.rubyforge.org](http://backgroundrb.rubyforge.org)

It will work as expected. I can’t change the past nor go modify past  
web archives. But I know confusion is there in air.

I have also tried to summarize installation procedure here:

[http://gnufied.org/2007/12/20/backgroundrb-10-released/](http://gnufied.org/2007/12/20/backgroundrb-10-released/)

So, in a nutshell, just run the trunk version of plugin and everything  
should be fine.