Scope of constants in instance_eval

I'm writing a DSL, and I want to use some constants. To be clean, I
don't want to pollute the global constant space. To be tight, I also
don't want the user to have to scope the constant using Foo::BAR, but
instead be able to use just BAR.

The following surprised me. As the scope of the block is an instance of
Foo, I had hoped/assumed that it would have access too Foo's constants.
Alas, no.

class Foo
  BAR = 1
  def initialize( &block )
    instance_eval &block
  end
  def bork
    puts "bork: self is #{self}"
    puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  end
end

Foo.new{
  bork
  puts "block: self is #{self}"
  puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
}

#=> bork: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> bork: BAR is 1!
#=> block: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> NameError: uninitialized constant BAR

For now, I'll just shove my constants into global space before the
instance_eval, and remove them afterwards. Is there a better/cleaner
way to accomplish my goals?

class Foo
  BAR = 1
  def initialize( &block )
    instance_eval &block
  end
  def bork
    puts "bork: self is #{self}"
    puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"

Hmm, that could be a bug in ruby because

    p BAR

works.

  end
end

Foo.new{
  bork
  puts "block: self is #{self}"
  puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
}

Jim Freeze

···

On Feb 26, 2006, at 11:23 AM, Phrogz wrote:

For those interested in doing the same, I've hacked up a quick method
for promoting the constants of a class/module to the main Object scope,
and then restoring the original values.

You can:
  * Automatically promote all constants of the class/module
  * Promote only specific constants
  * Choose to explicitly restore the constants or
  * Supply a block that will be yielded to before the constants are
automatically restored

class Module
  # Push the constants of this class/module up to global space
  # saving any original values in Object for later restoration

···

#
  # If no names are supplied, all constants in this class/module
  # are promoted.
  #
  # If a block is supplied, it will be yielded to before automatically
  # restoring the global scope to its pristine state.
  def promote_constants( *const_names )
    const_names.flatten!
    const_names = self.constants if const_names.empty?
    @_original_constant_values = {}
    const_names.each { |name|
      if self.const_defined?( name )
        if Object.const_defined?( name )
          @_original_constant_values[ name ] = Object.const_get( name )

        end
        Object.const_set( name, self.const_get( name ) )
      else
        warn "Cannot promote non-existent constant '#{name}'"
      end
    }
    if block_given?
      yield
      restore_constants
    end
  end

  # Restore Object's constants to undo the effects of
#promote_constants
  def restore_constants( *const_names )
    return unless @_original_constant_values
    const_names.flatten!
    const_names = self.constants if const_names.empty?
    const_names.each { |name|
      if val=@_original_constant_values[ name ]
        Object.const_set( name, val )
      else
        Object.instance_eval{
          remove_const( name )
        }
      end
    }
    @_original_constant_values = nil
  end
end

Phrogz wrote:

I'm writing a DSL, and I want to use some constants. To be clean, I
don't want to pollute the global constant space. To be tight, I also
don't want the user to have to scope the constant using Foo::BAR, but
instead be able to use just BAR.

The following surprised me. As the scope of the block is an instance of
Foo, I had hoped/assumed that it would have access too Foo's constants.
Alas, no.

class Foo
  BAR = 1
  def initialize( &block )
    instance_eval &block
  end
  def bork
    puts "bork: self is #{self}"
    puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  end
end

Foo.new{
  bork
  puts "block: self is #{self}"
  puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
}

#=> bork: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> bork: BAR is 1!
#=> block: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> NameError: uninitialized constant BAR

For now, I'll just shove my constants into global space before the
instance_eval, and remove them afterwards. Is there a better/cleaner
way to accomplish my goals?

Just a constant lookup issue for a closure. Doing
this would also work:

  puts "Block: BAR is #{self.class.const_get 'BAR'}"

Though it may not be the cleanest solution :slight_smile:

E

···

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

Hi,

···

In message "Re: Scope of constants in instance_eval" on Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:23:34 +0900, "Phrogz" <gavin@refinery.com> writes:

class Foo
BAR = 1
def initialize( &block )
   instance_eval &block
end
def bork
   puts "bork: self is #{self}"
   puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"
end
end

Foo.new{
bork
puts "block: self is #{self}"
puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
}

#=> bork: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> bork: BAR is 1!
#=> block: self is #<Foo:0x32c808>
#=> NameError: uninitialized constant BAR

In 1.8, constant uses lexical look-up, even within the block given to
instance_eval(). We changed this behavior in 1.9 to simplify things.

              matz.

Jim Freeze wrote:

Hmm, that could be a bug in ruby because

    p BAR

works.

Hrm? Not on my machine.

class Foo
  BAR = 1
  def initialize( &block )
    instance_eval &block
  end
  def bork
    puts "bork: self is #{self}"
    puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  end
end

Foo.new{
  bork
  puts "block: self is #{self}"
  #puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  p BAR
}

#=> bork: self is #<Foo:0x32af44>
#=> bork: BAR is 1!
#=> block: self is #<Foo:0x32af44>
#=> NameError: uninitialized constant BAR

Jim Freeze wrote:

Hmm, that could be a bug in ruby because

    p BAR

works.

Hrm? Not on my machine.

Hmm, even more interesting. Change the following:

class Foo
  BAR = 1
  def initialize( &block )

           def initialize(str)

    instance_eval &block

                   instance_eval str

  end
  def bork
    puts "bork: self is #{self}"
    puts "bork: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  end
end

Foo.new{

   Foo.new %Q{

  bork
  puts "block: self is #{self}"
  #puts "block: BAR is #{BAR}!"
  p BAR
}

Now what do you get?

#=> bork: self is #<Foo:0x32af44>
#=> bork: BAR is 1!
#=> block: self is #<Foo:0x32af44>
#=> NameError: uninitialized constant BAR

Jim Freeze

···

On Feb 26, 2006, at 12:08 PM, Phrogz wrote:

Evaling as a string works. (Constant is resolved.)

"Phrogz" <gavin@refinery.com> writes:

Evaling as a string works. (Constant is resolved.)

But only in 1.9, if I understand you correctly.

g@crash:~/tmp$ cat test.rb
class C
  def initialize &b
    instance_eval(&b)
  end
  X = 2
end

C.new{puts eval('X')}
g@crash:~/tmp$ ruby -v test.rb
ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [i686-linux]
test.rb:8: (eval):1: uninitialized constant X (NameError)
        from test.rb:3:in `eval'
        from test.rb:8
        from test.rb:3:in `initialize'
        from test.rb:8
g@crash:~/tmp$ ruby19 -v test.rb
ruby 1.9.0 (2006-02-15) [i686-linux]
2

George Ogata <g_ogata@optushome.com.au> writes:

"Phrogz" <gavin@refinery.com> writes:

Evaling as a string works. (Constant is resolved.)

But only in 1.9, if I understand you correctly.

Sorry, I see this follows on from Jim's post.

Here's a silly idea that might make your other syntax work.

$bindings =
def Object.const_missing(name)
  if $bindings.empty?
    raise NameError, "uninitialized constant #{name}"
  end
  binding = $bindings.pop
  eval(name.to_s, binding)
ensure
  $bindings.push(binding)
end

class C
  def initialize &b
    $bindings.push binding
    instance_eval(&b)
  ensure
    $bindings.pop
  end
  X = 2
end

C.new{puts X}