Using a result as a constant object?

Ruby
1

Hello,

I am trying to understand how I can use a return from a method as a
constant name for a class. What I am trying to do is take a return I
find in a db table and use that name as a class name so that I can use
activerecord. I admit my understanding of ActiveRecord is extremely
immature so perhaps I am using it wrong.
…
perMatrtix = subMatrix.find[:space].to.upcase

class perMatrix < ActiveRecord::Base; end

blah, blah, blah…

So the return of the find, which is a name (turn to upper) as the name
of a class so that I can access that table within the database.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Cheers,
Phy

2

2008/10/19 Tim H. [email protected]:

perMatrtix = subMatrix.find[:space].to.upcase
uses class after you’ve created it? I mean, you can’t type the class name

–
RMagick: http://rmagick.rubyforge.org/

my_class = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) { set_table_name
subMatrix.find[:space].underscore.pluralize }
my_inst = my_class.new

Artem

PS:
Expression “subMatrix.find[:space]” seems strange for me. What is it
about?

3

Phy P. wrote:

So the return of the find, which is a name (turn to upper) as the name of a class so that I can access that table within the database.

If you’re getting the class name at run-time how would you write code
that uses class after you’ve created it? I mean, you can’t type the
class name into your program now, you don’t know what it is?

I suspect that what you really want to do is simply create a class and
assign the result to a variable. Check out Class.new.

my_class = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base)
my_inst = my_class.new

4

If the ActiveRecord model already exists you can just call constantize
on the string containing the model name:

class SomeModel < ActiveRecord::Base; end

model_name = “SomeModel” # or in your case fetch this from a database
ar_model = model_name.constantize
ar.model.find(120)

5

Sjoerd A. wrote:

Sjoerd A. wrote:

ar.model.find(120)
Should be: ar_model.find(120)

Be aware that ‘constantize’ is a method added by ActiveSupport, no
problem if you’re using Rails, but you need to require it manually
otherwise.

6

Sjoerd A. wrote:

ar.model.find(120)
Should be: ar_model.find(120)

7

Brian,

Ah, I see now (said the blind man)! This cool! Thanks for the example,
much appreciated!

Cheers,
Phy

8

Sjoerd,

Thanks much for the clarification. Indeed this works well. Appreciate
the help!

Cheers,
Phy

9

Phy P. wrote:

I am trying to understand how I can use a return from a method as a
constant name for a class.

def get_name
“Foo”
end

n = get_name
c = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) # superclass
Object.const_set(n, c)

10

Artem,

Thank you much for the example. This truly helps. WRT you question,
its a typo and basically its a method that retrieves the various
submatrix of a giant sparse matrix. I am using a db to organize all the
data so that I can run the calculations simultaneously across several
hundred machines. The orchestration of data and control flow of
processing I am trying to do in ruby.

Again, thanks for help!
Cheers,
Phy