with¶ ↑

• github.com/codeodor/with/tree/master

I sometimes get a little descriptive with my variable names, so when you’re doing a lot of work specifically with one object, it gets especially ugly and repetetive, making the code harder to read than it needs to be:

@contract_participants_on_drugs.contract_id = params[:contract_id]
@contract_participants_on_drugs.participant_name = params[:participant_name]
@contract_participants_on_drugs.drug_conviction = DrugConvictions.find(:wtf => 'this is getting ridiculous')
...

And so on. It gets ridiculous.

Utility Belt implements a with(object) method via a change to Object:

class Object
  #utility belt implementation
  def with(object, &block)
    object.instance_eval &block
  end
end

Unfortunately, that just executes the block in the context of the object, so there isn’t any crossover, nor can you perform assignments with attr_accessors (that I was able to do, anyway).

So, here’s With.object() to fill the void.

With.object(@foo) do 
  a = "wtf"
  b = "this is not as bad"
end

In the above example, @foo.a and @foo.b are the variables getting set.

If you prefer, you can require ‘with_on_object’ instead and use the notation with(object) do … end.

The tests in the /test directory offer more examples of what’s been implemented and tested so far (except where noted - namely performing assignment to a variable that was declared outside the block, and is not on @foo).

Not everything is working yet, but it works for the simplest, most common cases I’ve run up against. More complex tests are on the way, along with code to make them pass.

Special thanks to Reg Braithwaite, for help and ideas along the way.

The tests in the /test directory offer more examples of what’s been implemented and tested so far (except where noted - namely performing assignment to a variable that was declared outside the block, and is not on @foo).

require 'with'
With.object(@foo) do 
  a = "wtf"
  b = "this is not as bad"
end

or

require 'with_on_object'
with(@foo) do 
  a = "wtf"
  b = "this is not as bad"
end

• Ruby2Ruby

• ParseTree

sudo gem install codeodor-with -s http://gems.github.com

(The MIT License)

Copyright © 2009 Sammy Larbi

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the ‘Software’), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.