From: Julian Leviston <julian@...>
Date: 2009-02-05T09:35:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Making object methods available externally

Put "self." in front of the method name in it's definition. This is  
called a class method. If you need both, have both.

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On 05/02/2009, at 5:37 AM, David Stanford <dthomas53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm having trouble figuring out a way of creating a method within a
> class that's available not only to the other object methods (object
> instances), but also externally, as if I were to use 'self.method'.
> Below is an (admittedly, lame) example of what I'm referring to:
>
> #############################
>
> class CheesePhrase
>  def initialize(phrase)
>    @phrase = phrase
>    say_it
>  end
>
>  def say_it(phrase=@phrase)
>    puts "#{phrase}"
>  end
> end
>
> #############################
>
> The above code works fine if I create an object instance, and (if I
> choose to do so) call the method 'say_it', like so:
>
> some_cheese_phrase = CheesePhrase.new("I like cheese.")
> some_cheese_phrase.say_it
>
> However, what if I'd also like to call the method directly, without
> creating a new instance? For example, simply with:
>
> CheesePhrase.say_it("I like cheese, too.")
>
> I can't do this without using 'self.say_it' in the method declaration.
> Though, if I do that, I am no longer able to call the method in
> 'initialize' since 'self.say_it' is now a class method. I get the
> following error:
>
> NoMethodError: undefined method `say_it' for #<CheesePhrase:0x284372f4
> @phrase="I like cheese">
>        from (irb):4:in `initialize'
>        from (irb):11:in `new'
>
> I'm sure I must be doing something wrong, or my concept of how to
> implement this is totally wrong. The only other thought I've had is to
> create duplicate methods, but this seems to violate the famed DRY
> principle. Any advice would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> -David
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>