From: Michael Fellinger <manveru@...>
Date: 2006-02-12T14:23:14+09:00
Subject: Re: methods and default values

Hey jarnaud,

Using an hash in that case looks like the most obvious option.
class Text
  def initialize(text, options)
    @text = text
    @bold = options[:bold] || "no"
    @italic = options[:italic] || "no"
    @color = options[:color] || "black"
  end
end

you use it like that:

foo.add text, {:color => "green"}

maybe somebody has some more fancy solution - just wait a bit :)

~~~~manveru

On Sunday 12 February 2006 14:12, jarnaud@prosodiemail.com wrote:
> Hi all, let's say that I have a very nice:
>
> class Text
>  def initialize(text, bold="no", italic="no", color="black")
>    @text=text
>    @bold=bold
>    @italic=italic
>    @color=color
>  end
> end
>
> class TextSet
>   def initialize
>     @texts=Array.new
>   end
>   def add(text)
>     @texts.push(text)
>   end
> end
>
> Let's say I dont want to have a attr_writer :italic, :bold, :color
> for TextSet because I want my code to look like
>
> foo = TextSet.new
> foo.add(Text.new("Hello, my name is"))
> foo.add(Text.new("Jerome"))
>
> as opposed to
>
> foo = TextSet.new
> text1=Text.new(Text.new("Hello, my name is"))
> text2=Text.new(Text.new("Jerome"))
> foo.add(text1)
> foo.add(text2)
>
> Ok, you follow me? Now let's talk about default value for the Text
> constructor.
>
> Let's say I want my name (Jerome) in green.
>
> I have to do foo.add(Text.new("Hello, my name is", "no, "no, "green")),
> right?
>
> Question: I'd like to get rid of the useless "no", "no".
> Is there a way to specify, that I want an instance of the object with
> the default parameters except for one?
>
> Thanks for your ideas