# Decompose ActiveRecord script into methods

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/decompose-activerecord-script-into-methods/175964>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [September 23, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/decompose-activerecord-script-into-methods/175964 "2009-09-23T04:54:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Thufir)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/decompose-activerecord-script-into-methods/175964/1 "2009-09-23T04:54:40Z")

</div>

If I commend out the def and end lines for the “all” method, the  
script runs fine. However, the goal is to decompose the script into  
several methods, which fails with:

thufir@ARRAKIS:~/projects/aggregator$  
thufir@ARRAKIS:~/projects/aggregator$ ruby rss2mysql.rb  
rss2mysql.rb:19: class definition in method body  
thufir@ARRAKIS:~/projects/aggregator$

The script is adapted from:

Practical Ruby Gems  
[http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781590598115](http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781590598115)  
Chapter 5

require ‘rubygems’  
require ‘active\_record’  
require ‘feed\_tools’  
require ‘yaml’

def all

```
  db = YAML.load_file("database.yml")
ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
    :adapter => db["adapter"],
    :host => db["host"],
    :username => db["username"],
    :password => db["password"],
    :database => db["database"])

```

class Items \< ActiveRecord::Base  
end

# If the table doesn’t exist, we’ll create it.

unless Items.table\_exists?  
ActiveRecord::Schema.define do  
create\_table :items do |t|  
t.column :title, :string  
t.column :content, :string  
t.column :source, :string  
t.column :url, :string  
t.column :timestamp, :timestamp  
t.column :keyword\_id, :integer  
t.column :guid, :string  
t.column :html, :string  
end  
end  
end

feed\_url = ‘[Slashdot](http://www.slashdot.org/index.rss)’

feed=FeedTools::Feed.open(feed\_url)  
feed.items.each do |feed\_item|  
unless (Items.find\_by\_title(feed\_item.title)   
or Items.find\_by\_url(feed\_item.link)   
or Items.find\_by\_guid(feed\_item.guid))  
puts “processing item ‘#{feed\_item.title}’ - new”

```
Items.new do |newitem|
   newitem.title=feed_item.title.gsub(/<[^>]*>/, '')
   newitem.guid=feed_item.guid
   if feed_item.publisher.name
       newitem.source=feed_item.publisher.name
   end
   newitem.url=feed_item.link
   newitem.content=feed_item.description
   newitem.timestamp=feed_item.published
   newitem.save
end

```

else  
puts “processing item ‘#{feed\_item.title}’ - old”  
end  
end

end #end all

thanks,

Thufir

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Thufir)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/decompose-activerecord-script-into-methods/175964/2 "2009-09-23T05:06:58Z")

</div>

On Sep 22, 4:46 pm, Thufir [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> If I commend out the def and end lines for the “all” method, the  
> script runs fine. However, the goal is to decompose the script into  
> several methods, which fails with:
> 
> thufir@ARRAKIS:~/projects/aggregator$  
> thufir@ARRAKIS:~/projects/aggregator$ ruby rss2mysql.rb  
> rss2mysql.rb:19: class definition in method body

It’s telling you what the error is - you cannot define a class (Items)  
inside a method (at least not with the usual syntax)

Fred