From: Francis Hwang <sera@...>
Date: 2004-11-21T08:55:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Inner Class Relationship

Since you haven't said much about how you're using this, maybe my 
answer will be a little presumptive, but: Is there are a particular 
reason you want the inner class to relate to the outer class this way? 
When I used inner classes (which is a lot), the relationship between 
the two is usually fairly clear: The outer class uses an instance of 
the inner class to delegate some small piece of logic, but the inner 
class doesn't know much about the outer class as a whole and doesn't 
change its state.

Something like:

class Outer
	def outer_method
		inner = Inner.new
		result = inner.inner_method
		do_something_based_on result
	end

	class Inner
		def inner_method
		end
	end
end

It's possible that doing it this way violates Tell Don't Ask, but it 
seems to work fine for me.

F.


On Nov 20, 2004, at 5:31 PM, James Edward Gray II wrote:

> I have an inner class that needs to send it's parent object (outer 
> class) a message when a certain event occurs.
>
> I would rather not create a method in the outer class for this as it 
> is a messy implementation detail that should be hidden away under lock 
> and key.
>
> Any suggestions for a clean way to implement this?  It's a blind spot 
> for me.
>
> Thanks.
>
> James Edward Gray II
>
>
>

Francis Hwang
http://fhwang.net/