From what I know of Ruby classes, once I include a module into a
class, ... but not retroactively alter any existing instances
of User.
On the contrary, an include/extend immediately affects all existing instances, because it is a question of pointer between the class and its superclass. See How does Inheritance work in Ruby? and also the links inside.
module HasAnAvatar
def m
puts 'in HasAnAvatar#m'
end
end
class AvatarUploader; end
class User
end
user = User.new
print 'user.respond_to?(:m) ? '; puts user.respond_to?(:m) ? 'yes' : 'no'
print '1) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? '; puts user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? 'yes' : 'no'
class User
include HasAnAvatar
end
print 'user.respond_to?(:m) ? '; puts user.respond_to?(:m) ? 'yes' : 'no'
print '2) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? '; puts user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? 'yes' : 'no'
module HasAnAvatar
def self.included(base)
puts "#{self} included into #{base}"
# base.mount_uploader :avatar, AvatarUploader
base.send(:attr_reader, :avatar)
end
end
class User
include HasAnAvatar
end
print '3) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? '; puts user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? 'yes' : 'no'
print 'user.avatar : '; p user.avatar
print 'user.avatar.class : '; p user.avatar.class
user.instance_variable_set(:@avatar, AvatarUploader.new)
print 'after set, user.avatar : '; p user.avatar
print 'user.avatar.class : '; p user.avatar.class
Execution (Ruby 1.9.2) :
$ ruby -w t.rb
user.respond_to?(:m) ? no
1) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? no
user.respond_to?(:m) ? yes
2) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? no
HasAnAvatar included into User
3) user.respond_to?(:avatar) ? yes
user.avatar : nil
user.avatar.class : NilClass
after set, user.avatar : #<AvatarUploader:0x007fcc2b047cf8>
user.avatar.class : AvatarUploader
So included methods immediately become available to all existing instances.
Why does user.avatar answer nil ? Because instance variables belong to ... single instances. See Why are symbols in Ruby not thought of as a type of variable?
In this case, the old user was not assigned an avatar.
But why do you get user2.avatar.class #=> AvatarUploader. I suppose that, behind the scene, base.mount_uploader :avatar, AvatarUploader does something such that :avatar is not an accessor of a corresponding instance variable, or defines an initialize method which starts to set this variable into new instances.
Here is a solution for the second example :
module Pacifiable
def self.extended(host)
puts "#{host} extended by #{self}"
def host.pacified_with(mechanism)
@@method_name = "pacified_with_#{mechanism}?"
puts "about to define '#{@@method_name}' into #{self} of class #{self.class }"
if self.class == Class
then # define an instance method in a class
define_method(@@method_name) { true }
else # define a singleton method for an object
class << self
define_method(@@method_name) { true }
end
end
end
end
end
class JellyFish
define_method(:is_squishy?) { true }
end
class Lobster
extend Pacifiable
pacified_with :polar_bear
define_method(:is_squishy?) { false }
end
a_lobster = Lobster.new
print 'a_lobster.pacified_with_polar_bear? '; p a_lobster.pacified_with_polar_bear?
print 'a_lobster.is_squishy? '; p a_lobster.is_squishy?
jelly = JellyFish.new
### Add functionality to instance
#
## what I want:
#
jelly.extend(Pacifiable)
jelly.pacified_with(:polar_bear)
print 'jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear? '; p jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear? #=> true
Execution :
Lobster extended by Pacifiable
about to define 'pacified_with_polar_bear?' into Lobster of class Class
a_lobster.pacified_with_polar_bear? true
a_lobster.is_squishy? false
#<JellyFish:0x007fcc2b047640> extended by Pacifiable
about to define 'pacified_with_polar_bear?' into #<JellyFish:0x007fcc2b047640> of class JellyFish
jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear? true
About jelly.class.pacified_with(:polar_bear) : the mistake was to call class, which answers the class JellyFish; what you want is the singleton class of the instance object jelly. Once a method is defined in the singleton class of an object, you can send it directly to the object. The same applies to classes, which are instances of Class. Once a method is defined in the singleton class of a class, you can send it directly to the class. We call them class methods, they are actually instance methods of the singleton class of the class. Ouf !
Last OR : as explained, if you extend the class, it is valid for all existing instances. Thus you have to extend individual instances :
class JellyFromTheBigBlueSea
def find
puts 'in JellyFromTheBigBlueSea#find'
jelly = JellyFish.new
jelly.extend(Pacifiable)
jelly.pacified_with :polar_bear
jelly
end
end
class JellyFromAnIsolatedCove
def find
puts 'in JellyFromAnIsolatedCove#find'
JellyFish.new
end
end
normal_jelly = JellyFromTheBigBlueSea.new.find
ignorant_jelly = JellyFromAnIsolatedCove.new.find
## what I want:
#
print 'normal_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear? '; p normal_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear?
print 'ignorant_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear?' ; p ignorant_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear?
Execution :
in JellyFromTheBigBlueSea#find
#<JellyFish:0x007fb5d9045060> extended by Pacifiable
about to define 'pacified_with_polar_bear?' into #<JellyFish:0x007fb5d9045060> of class JellyFish
in JellyFromAnIsolatedCove#find
normal_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear? true
ignorant_jelly.pacified_with_polar_bear?t.rb:109:in `<main>': undefined method `pacified_with_polar_bear?' for #<JellyFish:0x007fb5d9044d18> (NoMethodError)
