From: Kevin McConnell <kevinwmcconnell@...>
Date: 2005-04-26T09:04:31+09:00
Subject: get class instance from name?

What's a good way to get at a Class instance, from a string containing 
its name?

For example, say I have a string "Customer", and want to call 
Customer.my_class_method().  I realise I could do something like:

   # class_name = "Customer"
   result = eval("#{class_name}.my_class_method()")

....but it smells like a hack to me, and so I suspect there's a more 
"proper" way to get at the object I need...

Any pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
   Kevin