Ruby: automatically wrapping methods in event triggers

Question

Heres what I have/want:

module Observable
  def observers; @observers; end

  def trigger(event, *args)
    good = true
    return good unless (@observers ||         


        

Answer 1

There are a several ways to do it with the help of metaprogramming magic. For example, you can define a method like this:

def override_public_methods(c)
  c.instance_methods(false).each do |m|
    m = m.to_sym
    c.class_eval %Q{
      alias #{m}_original #{m}
      def #{m}(*args, &block)
        puts "Foo"
        result = #{m}_original(*args, &block)
        puts "Bar"
        result
      end
    }
  end
end

class CustomBaseObject
  def test(a, &block)
    puts "Test: #{a}"
    yield
  end
end

override_public_methods(CustomBaseObject)

foo = CustomBaseObject.new
foo.test(2) { puts 'Block!' }
# => Foo
     Test: 2
     Block!
     Bar

In this case, you figure out all the required methods defined in the class by using instance_methods and then override them.

Another way is to use so-called 'hook' methods:

module Overrideable
  def self.included(c)
    c.instance_methods(false).each do |m|
      m = m.to_sym
      c.class_eval %Q{
        alias #{m}_original #{m}
        def #{m}(*args, &block)
          puts "Foo"
          result = #{m}_original(*args, &block)
          puts "Bar"
          result
        end
      }
    end
  end
end

class CustomBaseObject
  def test(a, &block)
    puts "Test: #{a}"
    yield
  end

  include Overrideable
end

The included hook, defined in this module, is called when you include that module. This requires that you include the module at the end of the class definition, because included should know about all the already defined methods. I think it's rather ugly :)