Prevent class instantiation from the initialize method?

Can some show me how to implement this java program using Ruby?
I am simply trying to prevent the testclass from being instantiated in
the constructor.
I am then checking to see if the the class has instanatiated properly.

class testclass
{
public testclass() throws Exception
{

   Exception testexception;
   testexception = new Exception("Instantiation cancelled.");
   throw testexception;

}}

public class testprogram
{
public static void main(final String taArgv[])
{
   testclass mytest = null;

   try
   {
      mytest = new testclass();
   }
   catch(Exception myexception)
   {
      System.out.println(myexception.getMessage());
   }

   if (mytest == null)
   {
      System.exit(1);

   }
   System.out.println("Instantiation not cancelled.");
}}

I am new to Ruby but this is what I have so far:

class Testclass
  def initialize()

    raise "Instantiation cancelled."

  end
end

begin

   mytest = Testclass.new()

   rescue Exception => e
   begin

      puts e
      exit 1

   end

   puts "Instantiation not cancelled."

end

If the raise line in the initialize method is disabled, the puts
"Instantiation not cancelled." line does not execute.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

This seems like a bad idea. I can think of no good reason to do this. This is probably just a bad solution to a very different problem. What exactly are you planning to do with this?

- Jake McArthur

···

On Jul 27, 2006, at 2:21 PM, Dave Mihalik wrote:

Can some show me how to implement this java program using Ruby?
I am simply trying to prevent the testclass from being instantiated in
the constructor.
I am then checking to see if the the class has instanatiated properly.

Dave Mihalik wrote:

class Testclass
   def initialize()

     raise "Instantiation cancelled."

   end
end

begin
     mytest = Testclass.new()
rescue Exception => e

     puts e
     exit 1

end

puts "Instantiation not cancelled."

rescue/ensure must have it's own begin clause

lopex

Can some show me how to implement this java program using Ruby?
I am simply trying to prevent the testclass from being instantiated in
the constructor.
I am then checking to see if the the class has instanatiated properly.

[Java.elide()]

I am new to Ruby but this is what I have so far:

class Testclass
  def initialize()

    raise "Instantiation cancelled."

  end
end

begin

   mytest = Testclass.new()

   rescue Exception => e
   begin

      puts e
      exit 1

   end

   puts "Instantiation not cancelled."

end

If the raise line in the initialize method is disabled, the puts
"Instantiation not cancelled." line does not execute.

Because it's always going to execute that inner begin...end block. I expect you want something more like the following:

begin
   mytest = Testclass.new
rescue Exception => e
   puts e
   exit 1
end
puts "Instantiation not cancelled"

The first 'begin' starts the protected block, similar to Java's try { ... }, and the 'rescue' acts on any exceptions raised within that block.

That said, using exceptions for control flow is usually a bit of pathological case in Ruby, and there's usually a better way to accomplish the same result. The two possible answers that spring to mind are (simple) making the initialiser private or (slightly more complicated) just removing the new method all together:

class Testclass
   class << self
     undef_method :new
   end
end

my_test = Testclass.new()
NoMethodError: undefined method `new' for Foo:Class
         from (irb):6

matthew smillie.

···

On Jul 27, 2006, at 20:21, Dave Mihalik wrote:
         from :0

That said, using exceptions for control flow is usually a bit of
pathological case in Ruby, and there's usually a better way to
accomplish the same result. The two possible answers that spring to
mind are (simple) making the initialiser private or (slightly more
complicated) just removing the new method all together:

I am trying to determine how my program should handle errors in the
initialize method. If an error occurs in code that is running in the
initialize method, I want to be able to prevent the class from
instantiating.

class Testclass
  def initialize()

    ## Do work here.
    ## Do more work here.
    ## Get an error from doing more work.

    ## Raise an error to prevent the class from instantiating because
    ## the functionality of the class depends on the above work.

    ##raise "Instantiation cancelled."

  end
end

## Try to instantiate the class.
begin

   mytest = Testclass.new()

   ## Make sure that the instantiation was successful.
   rescue Exception => e

      ## If not, handle the error.
      puts e
      exit 1

end

## If instantiation succeeded, then proceed with the program.
puts "Instantiation not cancelled."

Is there a better way to handle errors in the initialize method?

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Jake McArthur wrote:

···

On Jul 27, 2006, at 2:21 PM, Dave Mihalik wrote:

Can some show me how to implement this java program using Ruby?
I am simply trying to prevent the testclass from being instantiated in
the constructor.
I am then checking to see if the the class has instanatiated properly.

This seems like a bad idea. I can think of no good reason to do this.
This is probably just a bad solution to a very different problem.
What exactly are you planning to do with this?

- Jake McArthur

I am trying to handle any errors that may occur in the initialize
method. I don't want to the class to instantiate if errors occur in the
initialize method.

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Dave Mihalik wrote:
<snip>

I am trying to determine how my program should handle errors in the initialize method. If an error occurs in code that is running in the initialize method, I want to be able to prevent the class from instantiating.

<snip pseudocode>

It depends on the nature of the code that can fail, and what *exactly* you mean by "instantiating".

This might work, if the failable code is relevant outside an instance:

class TestClass
   def TestClass.get_new(params)
     begin
       settings = do_work_that_can_fail(params)
       new(settings)
     rescue
       puts "Waaah! It didn't work!"
       nil
     end
   end
end

If that's not appropriate, then there's this:

class TestClass
   def TestClass.get_new(params)
     begin
       new(params)
     rescue
       puts "Still didn't work!"
       nil
     end
   end
   def initialize(params)
     do_work_that_can_fail(params)
   end
end

In the second case (unless I'm mis-remembering how the object lifecycle works) the instance is created in the new() call, but it'll get disposed of in the next GC round because there aren't any references to it being held anywhere.

In both cases, you just call TestClass.get_new() rather than TestClass.new() to get your instance, or nil if the stuff that can fail fails.

···

--
Alex

class Testclass
  def initialize()

    ## Do work here.
    ## Do more work here.
    ## Get an error from doing more work.

    ## Raise an error to prevent the class from instantiating because
    ## the functionality of the class depends on the above work.

    ##raise "Instantiation cancelled."

  end
end

## Try to instantiate the class.
begin

   mytest = Testclass.new()

   ## Make sure that the instantiation was successful.
   rescue Exception => e

      ## If not, handle the error.
      puts e
      exit 1

end

## If instantiation succeeded, then proceed with the program.
puts "Instantiation not cancelled."

Is there a better way to handle errors in the initialize method?