How can I access an attribute via a symbol?

Rails
1

In my model I’d like to write a method that accesses the attributes by
name. A very simple implementation would be

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
def get_value(attribute)
return value_of_attribute
end
end

Then I can call it with m.get_value(:name) to get the value of the
name column in the db. I’m not sure what to put in for
‘value_of_attribute’ though. How do I do that?

Pat

2

Just use the [] accessor:

model = MyModel.find(1)
value = model[:attribute_name]

Cheers!

-DF

3

What if I’m in the model?

I don’t want to just get the value of course…I want a method that
will take the name of the attribute, process it a bit, and give the
output.

Pat

4

Hey Pat,

if you just want to get the value out of the AR attributes hash you
use self[]

(in your model)

def upcase_something(sym)
self[sym].upcase
end

Regards,
Trevor

Trevor S.
http://somethinglearned.com