Ruby – Given a class, see if instance has method (Ruby)

respond-toruby

I know in Ruby that I can use respond_to? to check if an object has a certain method.

But, given the class, how can I check if the instance has a certain method?

i.e, something like

Foo.new.respond_to?(:bar)

But I feel like there's gotta be a better way than instantiating a new instance.

Best Answer

I don't know why everyone is suggesting you should be using instance_methods and include? when method_defined? does the job.

class Test
  def hello; end
end

Test.method_defined? :hello #=> true

NOTE

In case you are coming to Ruby from another OO language OR you think that method_defined means ONLY methods that you defined explicitly with:

def my_method
end

then read this:

In Ruby, a property (attribute) on your model is basically a method also. So method_defined? will also return true for properties, not just methods.

For example:

Given an instance of a class that has a String attribute first_name:

<instance>.first_name.class #=> String

<instance>.class.method_defined?(:first_name) #=> true

since first_name is both an attribute and a method (and a string of type String).

Related Solutions

Ruby – What’s the best way to model recurring events in a calendar application

I would use a 'link' concept for all future recurring events. They are dynamically displayed in the calendar and link back to a single reference object. When events have taken place the link is broken and the event becomes a standalone instance. If you attempt to edit a recurring event then prompt to change all future items (i.e. change single linked reference) or change just that instance (in which case convert this to a standalone instance and then make change). The latter cased is slightly problematic as you need to keep track in your recurring list of all future events that were converted to single instance. But, this is entirely do-able.

So, in essence, have 2 classes of events - single instances and recurring events.

Ruby-on-rails – How to find where a method is defined at runtime

This is really late, but here's how you can find where a method is defined:

http://gist.github.com/76951

# How to find out where a method comes from.
# Learned this from Dave Thomas while teaching Advanced Ruby Studio
# Makes the case for separating method definitions into
# modules, especially when enhancing built-in classes.
module Perpetrator
  def crime
  end
end

class Fixnum
  include Perpetrator
end

p 2.method(:crime) # The "2" here is an instance of Fixnum.
#<Method: Fixnum(Perpetrator)#crime>

If you're on Ruby 1.9+, you can use source_location

require 'csv'

p CSV.new('string').method(:flock)
# => #<Method: CSV#flock>

CSV.new('string').method(:flock).source_location
# => ["/path/to/ruby/1.9.2-p290/lib/ruby/1.9.1/forwardable.rb", 180]

Note that this won't work on everything, like native compiled code. The Method class has some neat functions, too, like Method#owner which returns the file where the method is defined.

EDIT: Also see the __file__ and __line__ and notes for REE in the other answer, they're handy too. -- wg

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ruby – What’s the best way to model recurring events in a calendar application

Ruby-on-rails – How to find where a method is defined at runtime

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