Top Level Namespace

Relationships & Source Files
Namespace Children
Classes: Delegator, SimpleDelegator

Instance Method Summary

DelegateClass(superclass)

The primary interface to this library.

Instance Method Details

DelegateClass(superclass)

The primary interface to this library. Use to setup delegation when defining your class.

class MyClass < DelegateClass(ClassToDelegateTo) # Step 1
  def initialize
    super(obj_of_ClassToDelegateTo)              # Step 2
  end
end

Here's a sample of use from Tempfile which is really a File object with a few special rules about storage location and when the File should be deleted. That makes for an almost textbook perfect example of how to use delegation.

class Tempfile < DelegateClass(File)
  # constant and class member data initialization...

  def initialize(basename, tmpdir=Dir::tmpdir)
    # build up file path/name in var tmpname...

    @tmpfile = File.open(tmpname, File::RDWR|File::CREAT|File::EXCL, 0600)

    # ...

    super(@tmpfile)

    # below this point, all methods of File are supported...
  end

  # ...
end

[ GitHub ]

# File 'lib/delegate.rb', line 386


def DelegateClass(superclass)
  klass = Class.new(Delegator)
  methods = superclass.instance_methods
  methods -= ::Delegator.public_api
  methods -= [:to_s, :inspect, :=~, :!~, :===]
  klass.module_eval do
    def __getobj__ # :nodoc:
      unless defined?(@delegate_dc_obj)
        return yield if block_given?
        __raise__ ::ArgumentError, "not delegated"
      end
      @delegate_dc_obj
    end
    def __setobj__(obj)  # :nodoc:
      __raise__ ::ArgumentError, "cannot delegate to self" if self.equal?(obj)
      @delegate_dc_obj = obj
    end
    methods.each do |method|
      define_method(method, Delegator.delegating_block(method))
    end
  end
  klass.define_singleton_method :public_instance_methods do |all=true|
    super(all) - superclass.protected_instance_methods
  end
  klass.define_singleton_method :protected_instance_methods do |all=true|
    super(all) | superclass.protected_instance_methods
  end
  return klass
end