From: Austin Ziegler <halostatue@...>
Date: 2004-09-03T04:27:28+09:00
Subject: Re: array of objects within an object

On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 04:05:19 +0900, DiesIrae <danb@mojolin.com> wrote:
> I am storing an array of objects within another object, but am not
> sure how to print the values of the array out. When I do an
> Port.inspect, it gives me something like this:

[minor editing for clarity]

> #<Port:0x4021de58
>   @state=[#<State:0x4021dca0 @state="1">,
>           #<State:0x4021d8f4 @state="2"> ],
>   @protocol="tcp",
>   @owner=[#<Owner:0x4021d9a8 @name="11">,
>           #<Owner:0x4021d854 @name="12">> 
>
> But when I do a Port.print_port, defined as

  class Port
>   def print_port
>     "Port: #{@protocol}, #{@state}, #{@owner} "
>   end
  end

Right. What you're doing here is implicitly calling #to_s on each of
your values through the use of interpolation. Thus, you have two
issues:

1. Neither State or Owner define #to_s values. This will harm
   readability. However, even if you do:

    class State
      def to_s
        "State: #{@state}"
      end
    end

    class Owner
      def to_s
        "Owner: #{@name}"
      end
    end

  you'll end up getting:

    Port: tcp, State: 1State: 2, Owner: 11Owner: 12

Thus, you need to change your Port #to_s and #print_port definition
to:

    class Port
      def print_port
        to_s
      end

      def to_s
        %Q|Port: #{@protocol}, [#{@state.join(", ")}], [#{@owner.join(", ")}]|
      end
    end

With this, you'll get:

    Port: tcp, [State: 1, State: 2], [Owner: 11, Owner: 12]

-a
-- 
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