# = forwardable - Support for the Delegation Pattern # # $Release Version: 1.1$ # $Revision: 1.2.2.2 $ # $Date: 2006/06/02 13:23:01 $ # by Keiju ISHITSUKA(keiju@ishitsuka.com) # # Documentation by James Edward Gray II and Gavin Sinclair # # == Introduction # # This library allows you delegate method calls to an object, on a method by # method basis. You can use Forwardable to setup this delegation at the class # level, or SingleForwardable to handle it at the object level. # # == Notes # # Be advised, RDoc will not detect delegated methods. # # forwardable.rb provides single-method delegation via the # def_delegator() and def_delegators() methods. For full-class # delegation via DelegateClass(), see delegate.rb. # # == Examples # # === Forwardable # # Forwardable makes building a new class based on existing work, with a proper # interface, almost trivial. We want to rely on what has come before obviously, # but with delegation we can take just the methods we need and even rename them # as appropriate. In many cases this is preferable to inheritance, which gives # us the entire old interface, even if much of it isn't needed. # # class Queue # extend Forwardable # # def initialize # @q = [ ] # prepare delegate object # end # # # setup prefered interface, enq() and deq()... # def_delegator :@q, :push, :enq # def_delegator :@q, :shift, :deq # # # support some general Array methods that fit Queues well # def_delegators :@q, :clear, :first, :push, :shift, :size # end # # q = Queue.new # q.enq 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 # q.push 6 # # q.shift # => 1 # while q.size > 0 # puts q.deq # end # # q.enq "Ruby", "Perl", "Python" # puts q.first # q.clear # puts q.first # # Prints: # # 2 # 3 # 4 # 5 # 6 # Ruby # nil # # === SingleForwardable # # printer = String.new # printer.extend SingleForwardable # prepare object for delegation # printer.def_delegator "STDOUT", "puts" # add delegation for STDOUT.puts() # printer.puts "Howdy!" # # Prints: # # Howdy! # # The Forwardable module provides delegation of specified # methods to a designated object, using the methods #def_delegator # and #def_delegators. # # For example, say you have a class RecordCollection which # contains an array @records. You could provide the lookup method # #record_number(), which simply calls #[] on the @records # array, like this: # # class RecordCollection # extend Forwardable # def_delegator :@records, :[], :record_number # end # # Further, if you wish to provide the methods #size, #<<, and #map, # all of which delegate to @records, this is how you can do it: # # class RecordCollection # # extend Forwardable, but we did that above # def_delegators :@records, :size, :<<, :map # end # # Also see the example at forwardable.rb. # module Forwardable @debug = nil class<