Indifferent Variable Hash

NOTE: This tiny library / gem could likely use a new name as "Indifferent Hash" can mean a number of things ... oh well! See usage below for what this really does.

Here's what this lets you do:

$ sudo gem install remi-indifferent-variable-hash -s http://gems.github.com
$ irb

>> require 'rubygems'
>> require 'indifferent-variable-hash'

# extend a class with IndifferentVariableHash

>> class Dog
     extend IndifferentVariableHash
   end

>> Dog.foo = 'bar'
=> "bar"

>> Dog.foo
=> "bar"

>> Dog.variables
=> {"foo"=>"bar"}

>> Dog['foo']
=> "bar"

>> Dog.new.foo
NoMethodError: undefined method <tt>foo' for #<Dog:0x7f37c87d87d0>
  from (irb):8
  from :0

# include IndifferentVariableHash in a class, for instances

>> class Dog
     include IndifferentVariableHash
   end

>> Dog.new.foo
=> nil

>> rover = Dog.new
=> #<Dog:0x7f37c87bfe38>

>> rover.foo = 'bar'
=> "bar"

>> rover.foo
=> "bar"

>> rover[:foo]
=> "bar"

>> rover.variables
=> {"foo"=>"bar"}

Why not!

I often add functionality similar to this to some classes that hold config-like information, for example:

• MyApp.config might return an object that includes IndifferentVariableHash so I can say MyApp.config.foo = 'bar' or MyApp.config[:foo] = 'bar'
• Alternatively, I might like the syntax MyApp.foo = 'bar' or MyApp[:foo] = 'bar' so I should extend MyApp with IndifferentVariableHash
• OR I might want both syntaxes, so I extend MyApp with IndifferentVariableHash but I also alias 'config' to 'variables.'

I use this often enough that I figured I should gem-ify it so I can easily use it in some of my projects, when I want it.

If it helps anyone else out there, so be it! Enjoy :)