From: Paul Lutus <nospam@...>
Date: 2006-08-27T13:40:04+09:00
Subject: Re: What am I doing wrong? -Chat server code-

Curtis Zimmerman wrote:

> I am running ruby 1.8.6 on WinXP.
> 
> I get the following error when I try to run this code:
> 
> httpserv.rb:22:in `runme': undefined local variable or method
> `connection_accept' for #<ServerBrutus:0x282af80> (NameError)
> 
> Here's the code (taken from a tutorial site by IBM):

/ ... snipped code listing

The code you listed has a rather obvious syntax error. Was it really copied
directly from the IBM site, or did you transcribe it?

> What am I doing wrong?

The code is broken. Try indenting the code using a beautifier, and you will
discover that the carefully worked out indentations are wrong, they are
marked incorrectly as well, and the code is missing one "end" statement
within "runme".

The remedy is to avoid commenting an "end" statement until you have actually
matched it up with its corresponding beginning statement, by following that
level of indentation to its origin.

Look at this:

   def runme
      while true
         conChk = select(@socketThreads, nil, nil, nil)
         if conChk != nil then
            for socket in conChk[0]
               if socket == @cx then
                  connection_accept
               else
                  if socket.eof? then
                     str = sprintf("Client left ... # snipped
                     broadcast_string(str, socket)
                     socket.close
                     socketThreads.delete(socket)
                  else
                     str = sprintf("[%s|%s] ... #snipped
                     broadcast_string(str, socket)
                  end # if socket.eof
               end # if socket == @cx
            end # for socket in conChk[0]
         end # if conChk != nil then
      end # while true
   end # runme

See the difference? This is accurately indented, and the error popped out
right away.

Also, use "true" rather than "1", for good form and portability.

> If I do not include the last 'end', it generates 
> a syntax error on the last line ('myChatServer.runme').

Don't apply patches without understanding why the problem came up in the
first place. That only adds to the confusion.

Again, is your code really copied directly, unchanged, from the IBM site?

-- 
Paul Lutus
http://www.arachnoid.com