This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by Red Handed. Original Post: The Best of method_missing Feed Title: RedHanded Feed URL: http://redhanded.hobix.com/index.xml Feed Description: sneaking Ruby through the system Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by Red Handed Latest Posts From RedHanded

I never use method_missing. Maybe twice. And both times I didn’t use it, regretted it, forcefully ejected the code from a moving vehicle, shed nary a tear.

And yet, there’s so many great uses for method_missing out there. If I may, a few of my favorite. And if you will, please, a few of yours?

• XMLRPC::Client::Proxy will pass its method calls directly onto the service. You can even specific a prefix, which makes the whole thing a little more psuedo-OO.

  >> require 'xmlrpc/client'
  >> system = XMLRPC::Client.
       new2( "http://www.oreillynet.com/meerkat/xml-rpc/server.php" ).
       proxy( "system" )
  >> system.listMethods
  => ["meerkat.getChannels", "meerkat.getCategories", ...]
  

  Naturally, DRb does similarly.
• Builder::XmlBase translates method calls into XML tags.

   >> require 'rubygems'
   >> require_gem 'builder'
  
   >> builder = Builder::XmlMarkup.new(:target=>STDOUT, :indent=>2)
   >> builder.person { |b| b.name("Jim"); b.phone("555-1234") }
   
     Jim
     555-1234
   
  

• Hash with Attrs (halfway down the page) is kind of neat. Make your Hashes act like JavaScript objects.

   class Hash
     def method_missing(meth,*args)
       if /=$/=~(meth=meth.id2name) then
         self[meth[0...-1]] = (args.length<2 ? args[0] : args)
       else
         self[meth]
       end
     end
   end
  

How do you use method_missing? Blow our minds post-haste.