Defining an ActiveRecord class within a method of another class

Hi,

I want to create a class and define a subclass of ActiveRecord within that class, like this:

class Results
  def initialize(db)
    class db < ActiveRecord::Base
    end
  end
end

r1 = Results.new('DM')
r2 = Results.new('AE')

Then I want to put that class definition into an object and use it in the instance methods of the Results class. (The instance methods of the Results class will do stuff with database tables, but I want to pick which table when I create the instances of the Results class.)

I am sure that the syntax above is wrong -- probably in many ways -- but am unsure how to fix it. Ruby does not seem to want to allow class definitions within methods, but if I can't do that, I do not know of another way to do this.

Thanks for your help.

I'm guessing this would do the trick :

irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval("class #{cls};end")
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end
irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval("class #{cls};end")
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end

You can modify what's being evaled .

···

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Maybe this helps: I created a table named A, with id and description.
Then (you have require active_record and establish the connection):

irb(main):081:0> class Result
irb(main):082:1> def initialize table
irb(main):083:2> @db = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) do
irb(main):084:3* set_table_name table
irb(main):085:3> end
irb(main):086:2> end
irb(main):087:1> attr_reader :db
irb(main):088:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):089:0> a = Result.new("A")
=> #<Result:0xb7478bc0 @db=#<Class:0xb7478b98>(id: integer,
description: string)>
irb(main):090:0> a.db.find(:all)
=> [#<#<Class:0xb7478b98> id: 1, description: "test">,
#<#<Class:0xb7478b98> id: 2, description: "test 2">]

I did the set_table_name because I think you want to choose the table
name to be the parameter passed to the Result initialize method, and
skip ActiveRecord's pluralization stuff. I store the generated class
in an instance variable. Through this variable you get access to the
ActiveRecord class.

Jesus.

···

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Glenn <glenn_ritz@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi,

I want to create a class and define a subclass of ActiveRecord within that class, like this:

class Results
def initialize(db)
   class db < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
end
end

r1 = Results.new('DM')
r2 = Results.new('AE')

Then I want to put that class definition into an object and use it in the instance methods of the Results class. (The instance methods of the Results class will do stuff with database tables, but I want to pick which table when I create the instances of the Results class.)

I am sure that the syntax above is wrong -- probably in many ways -- but am unsure how to fix it. Ruby does not seem to want to allow class definitions within methods, but if I can't do that, I do not know of another way to do this.

Glenn wrote:

Hi,

I want to create a class and define a subclass of ActiveRecord within
that class, like this:

class Results
  def initialize(db)
    class db < ActiveRecord::Base
    end
  end
end

r1 = Results.new('DM')
r2 = Results.new('AE')

Class.new(superclass) should do what you need without need to eval
anything. This gives you an anonymous class, which you can then assign
to a constant to give it a proper class name. Something like (untested):

class Results
  def initialize(name)
    @klass = Results.const_set(name, Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base))
  end
  def query
    @klass.find(...)
  end
end

r1 = Results.new('DM')
Results::DM.find(...)

···

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Sorry , I pasted the same thing twice

irb(main):042:0> class Res
irb(main):043:1> def self.get(cls)
irb(main):044:2> eval("class #{cls};end")
irb(main):045:2> return eval("#{cls}.new")
irb(main):046:2> end
irb(main):047:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):048:0> x = Res.get("G")
=> #<Res::G:0xb7c05d5c>
irb(main):049:0> x.class
=> Res::G

···

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