Generic method without case/when?

I like to write a generic method that calls different functions depending on
what string I parse to the method (see example) without having to use a
case-when? Is there a way to do that?

Process_easy("aFile", "Summer")

def process_easy(file, what)

    if file.include?("#{what}#{NL}") then
      constructor = CategoriesFactory.start_what # this is wrong. I like to
substitute and have: constructor = CategoriesFactory.start_summer
      start = file.index("Summer#{NL}")
      return constructor
# etc
end

-Bernd

Paatsch, Bernd wrote:

I like to write a generic method that calls different functions depending on
what string I parse to the method (see example) without having to use a
case-when? Is there a way to do that?

Process_easy("aFile", "Summer")

def process_easy(file, what)

    if file.include?("#{what}#{NL}") then
      constructor = CategoriesFactory.start_what # this is wrong. I like to
substitute and have: constructor = CategoriesFactory.start_summer
      start = file.index("Summer#{NL}")
      return constructor
# etc
end

-Bernd

Check the Object#send method:

obj.send('method', arg1, arg2...)

Paatsch, Bernd wrote:

I like to write a generic method that calls different functions
depending on what string I parse to the method (see example) without
having to use a case-when? Is there a way to do that?

Process_easy("aFile", "Summer")

def process_easy(file, what)

    if file.include?("#{what}#{NL}") then
      constructor = CategoriesFactory.start_what # this is wrong. I
like to substitute and have: constructor =
      CategoriesFactory.start_summer start = file.index("Summer#{NL}")
      return constructor
# etc
end

Difficult to tell from this example. You could use send as Tim suggested.
But you might as well use a different approach:

- extract a class name from the string
- extract another string from the string and map that via a Hash to a
lambda / class whatever

MAP = {
  "what" => lambda {|x| puts "doing what #{x}"},
  "Summer" => lambda {|x| puts "it's summer"},
}
def process_easy(file)
  cmd = MAP[file[/\w+$/m]] and cmd[file]
end

Kind regards

    robert