Hey all,
Hash vs methods may seem like a silly question, but in certain
situations I don’t understand why you would use a method over a hash.
For example, take a look at this method:
#this is defined in a class called core.rb
def assign_attributes(attributes)
attributes.each_pair { |k,v| send("#{k}=", v) if respond_to?("#{k}=")
} if attributes
end
This method gets called with this:
assign_attributes @options
Options is a hash when it gets passed into argument list which contains
key/value pairs:
@options[:dom_id] = @options.delete(:id)
@options[:dom_class] = @options.delete(:class)
assign_attributes @options
It appears that assign_attributes method is taking the key/value pairs
and converting them into setter and getter methods in a class called
table builder:
attr_accessor :dom_class, :dom_id
So basically we pass a hash and the each_pair method iterates through
the key/value pairs and uses the send method to call a setter #{k} back
on the table builder class and passing ‘v’ as a parameter so now the
getter method :dom_class or dom_id can be used to retrieve a value like
here:
def sortable?
dom_class && dom_class.include?(“sortable”)
end
The dom_class is called and if it exists then we check if it includes
the string ‘sortable’, but now it appears the method is being used as an
array or can include? be called on a mehtod like a method chain? Or is
dom_class not even a method? And if it’s not then why even bother
creating setter/getter methods when you could have just used a hash? Or
am I misunderstanding what assign_attributes is doing?
Thanks for response.