accessing methods from the blocks caller

[andrew]

Hello,

Sorry if this has been asked many times before, but I'm having a hard time
finding the right keywords to search for this one.

Here's my question... if I have a method that accepts a block and I want to
call a method of the class I'm in, in that block, how do I do it? See the
comment below in the example. Should make that sentence a bit clearer.

class Test
def method1
end

def method2
accept_block do # accept_block is not part of the Test class
...
method1 # I want to call method1 from the class I'm in, but
I'm getting undefined method for method1
...
end
end
end

I understand why I would be getting this error, but I don't know how to fix
it. Is there a way to access the caller in the block in order to access the
method of it? Kernel.caller is the closest I found, but it's not what I
want.

I hope this makes some sense. The example is a bit contrived, but hopefully
I get the point across.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[andrew]

Taking a better look at my pickaxe book, it seems as though this is simply a
scoping issue that doesn't really have a solution. I have a workaround, but
was curious to know if there was a "proper" way to accomplish what I was
looking for.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[eden li]

In the three cases I could think of, "method1" was always available to
the block. AFAIK, the block you pass to #accept_block no matter where
it is will always be bound to the lexical context you call it in,
meaning that 'method1' will always be available unless you do
something special when you call the block.

Maybe it'll help if you list the source for #accept_block and the
exact error you're getting.

# case 1, 'accept_block' defined in a super class
class S
def foo; yield; end
end

# case 2, 'accept_block' defined in an included module
module M
def bar; yield; end
end

# case 3, 'accept_block' defined in some other class
class D
def baz; yield; end
end

class C < S
include M
def m1; 'hi'; end
def test_foo; foo { m1 }; end
def test_bar; bar { m1 }; end
def test_baz; D.new.baz { m1 }; end
end
=> "hi"

 

[eden li]

$ irb
irb(main):001:0> class Test; def method1; end; def method2;
accept_block { method1 }; end; end
=> nil
irb(main):002:0> def accept_block; yield; end
=> nil
irb(main):003:0> Test.new.method2
=> nil

No error... there's something weird going on with your version of
#accept_block. Care to dump the source out here?

 

[Brian Candler]

class Test
def method1
end

def method2
accept_block do # accept_block is not part of the Test class
...
method1 # I want to call method1 from the class I'm in, but I'm getting undefined method for method1
...
end
end
end

I understand why I would be getting this error, but I don't know how to fix
it. Is there a way to access the caller in the block in order to access the
method of it? Kernel.caller is the closest I found, but it's not what I
want.

As people have said, this *should* work. Post a complete example where it
fails, and the error message.

Having said that, if there is a need to, the current object is called 'self'
and can be passed around explicitly if you wish:

class Test
def accept_block(some_object)
yield some_object
end

def method1
puts "whoo!"
end

def method2
accept_block(self) do |s|
# ...
s.method1
# ...
end
end
end
Test.new.method2 # prints "whoo!"

---- But this particular example works without:

class Test
def accept_block
yield
end

def method1
puts "whoo!"
end

def method2
accept_block do
# ...
method1
# ...
end
end
end
Test.new.method2 # prints "whoo!"

Regards,

Brian.

 

[andrew]

I'm experiencing the issue using Rails. I wanted to leave mention of Rails
out of my post as I figured it was simply a Ruby issue, but perhaps not.

class MyController < ApplicationController
def some_action
render :update do |page|
render_to_string # getting an error that render_to_string
is undefined
end
end
end

I fix this by doing this...
def some_action
str = render_to_string
render :update to |page|
# use str in the block
end
end

So for anybody with a bit of rails knowledge, do you know what's going on?
I can ask this in a rails group now if you think it's off topic.

Thanks again,
Andrew

 

[Brian Candler]

I'm experiencing the issue using Rails. I wanted to leave mention of Rails
out of my post as I figured it was simply a Ruby issue, but perhaps not.

class MyController < ApplicationController
def some_action
render :update do |page|
render_to_string # getting an error that render_to_string
is undefined
end
end
end

I fix this by doing this...
def some_action
str = render_to_string
render :update to |page|
# use str in the block
end
end

This is a rails issue. The *controller* and the *view* are two separate
objects; methods defined in the controller are not by default available in
the view.

The preferred solution is usually to define render_to_string as a helper in
app/helpers/mys.rb (as long as it's needed only by the view, not by the
controller itself)

If you must define it in the controller for some reason, then you can make
it available in the view by

def render_to_string
...
end
helper_method :render_to_string

I can ask this in a rails group now if you think it's off topic.

It's definitely a rails issue - further questions would best be asked there.

Regards,

Brian.

 

[Brian Candler]

This is a rails issue. The *controller* and the *view* are two separate
objects; methods defined in the controller are not by default available in
the view.

The preferred solution is usually to define render_to_string as a helper in
app/helpers/mys.rb (as long as it's needed only by the view, not by the
controller itself)

If you must define it in the controller for some reason, then you can make
it available in the view by

def render_to_string
...
end
helper_method :render_to_string

Alternatively: I think that *public* methods in the controller can be
accessed from within the view by using the 'controller' accessor. e.g.

<%= controller.render_to_string %>

But this is probably not a good idea if render_to_string is a method which
you don't want to make available to the outside world (in which case you
should mark it 'private')

B.