From: Stefano Crocco <stefano.crocco@...>
Date: 2009-10-24T00:19:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Setting attribute via send in Ruby 1.8.6

On Friday 23 October 2009, Charles Calvert wrote:
> |Using Ruby 1.8.6.
> |
> |I've run into an instance in which I'd like to set attributes of an
> |instance using the send method.  I've looked around, but found
> |nothing, most likely because I'm using the wrong search terms.
> |
> |Example:
> |
> |class A
> |	attr_reader :foo
> |	attr_writer :foo
> |end
> |
> |a = A.new
> |a.send("foo", "newval")
> |
> |
> |I get the following error: "wrong number of arguments (1 for 0)
> |(ArgumentError)"
> |
> |Am I correct in thinking that this is possible, and that I'm just
> |going about it the wrong way?
> |

The method attr_writer generates has an equal sign appended to the name you 
give. This means that

attr_writer :foo

generates a method called foo=. So, if you want to call it using send, you 
need to write:

a.send("foo=", "newval")

I hope this helps

Stefano