Object

Public Instance Methods

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

 
               # File delegate.rb, line 378
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