From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2005-04-26T09:09:35+09:00
Subject: Re: get class instance from name?

On Apr 25, 2005, at 7:04 PM, Kevin McConnell wrote:

> 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!

You're looking for Module.const_get().  Use it to get the class object, 
then call the method.

Hope that helps.

James Edward Gray II