From: Eric Hodel <drbrain@...7.net>
Date: 2006-09-03T02:15:36+09:00
Subject: Re: catch all method... e.g perl's autoload

On Sep 2, 2006, at 10:02 AM, Tim McIntyre wrote:
> Does ruby have a catchall method similar to perl's autoload?

Does this sound right?

$ ri Kernel#method_missing
-------------------------------------------------- Kernel#method_missing
      obj.method_missing(symbol [, *args] )   => result
------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Invoked by Ruby when obj is sent a message it cannot handle.
      symbol is the symbol for the method called, and args are any
      arguments that were passed to it. By default, the interpreter
      raises an error when this method is called. However, it is
      possible to override the method to provide more dynamic behavior.
      The example below creates a class Roman, which responds to methods
      with names consisting of roman numerals, returning the
      corresponding integer values.

         class Roman
           def romanToInt(str)
             # ...
           end
           def method_missing(methId)
             str = methId.id2name
             romanToInt(str)
           end
         end

         r = Roman.new
         r.iv      #=> 4
         r.xxiii   #=> 23
         r.mm      #=> 2000


-- 
Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - http://blog.segment7.net
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