From: pjb@... (Pascal J. Bourguignon)
Date: 2009-07-29T23:55:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Method question

Stuart Clarke <stuart.clarke1986@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi all,
>
> Struggling a little with the concept of an exercise I am doing.
>
> I have two Ruby methods, the first does a simple string replace the
> second converts data to something else if the criteria is satisfied. See
> example below


>  if field3.length < 100
>   field3 = field3
>  else
>   changer(field3)
>  end

   field3=changeIfLongerThan(data[2],100)


>  if field5.length < 100
>   field5 = field5
>  else
>   changer(field5)
>  end
> end

   field5=changeIfLongerThan(data[4],100)


> def changer(fieldData)
>  splitData = fieldData.split(",")
>  splitData.each do |output|
>  p output
> end
>
> What I would like to happen is when field3 for example is longer than
> 100 and its data is passed to def charger, I want that method (def
> charger) to split the field on all commas and then return data to
> field3.

This is not clear.  Do you wan to return an array containing the split
fields, or just the first one, or do you want to some way process each
fields in turn?

In the later case,  AFAIK, Ruby doesn't have continuations, so you
will have to add control flow yourself.


In the first case you can write:

def changer(field) # everything is data inside the computer!
  field.split(",")
end

def changeIfLongerThan(field,maxLen)
  if field < maxLen
      field
  else
      changer(field)
  end
end


> I could just put something like field3 = output, however when I get
> other fields for example field5 this will not work and therefore I need
> something generic that will give the data to the correct field.
>
> I hope this makes sense. Any help is much appreciated

It wasn't too clear, but I hope my answer will help you make it clearer.

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__